We note with interest the
recent article in Chemistry World describing how the
Chematica system has been adapted for the
purpose of evading patent-protected methods of drug production.
To summarise: Chematica is software associated with an extensive
database of chemical information. The software is designed with an
algorithm which can propose synthetic pathways to produce
particular chemicals. Such pathways would, of course, need to be
tested through actual experiment, but Chematica's proposed
synthetic routes are at least plausible avenues for investigation.
A recent upgrade to Chematica allows the software to avoid pathways
which are protected by patents.
This means that if one wanted to synthesise a particular drug
molecule, but the most well-known pathway to its synthesis were
covered by a patent, you could use Chematica to find a synthetic
route which wouldn't infringe the patent. On the face of it,
the most obvious lesson here is that if you can claim
