Chiral Drugs

This title was first published in 2001: In the early twentieth century the relevance of chirality to the pharmaceutical industry was established by the fact that one enantiomer of hyoscyamine possessed greater pharmacological activity than the other. Today, most new drugs and those under development consist of a single optically active isomer, and chirality is also becoming an issue for the agrochemical and other industries. Regulatory agencies throughout the world are currently reviewing the importance of chirality with regard to pharmaceutical and agrochemical products. New guidelines from such agencies have been key drivers for the focus on single enantiomer products in these industries.