from Hacker News

Modification of acetaminophen to reduce liver toxicity and enhance drug efficacy

by felineflock on 5/24/25, 12:29 AM with 149 comments

• by porphyra on 5/24/25, 3:45 AM

  It's always weird to me that acetaminophen has such a low therapeutic index, like in order to get enough for it to do anything, you're also on the verge of liver failure (especially if you also drink alcohol). Also it just doesn't work super well in my personal experience --- I hardly feel anything when I take it. And yet it's one of the most commonly taken medicines worldwide.

• by NortySpock on 5/24/25, 1:16 AM

  The same website is also for the excellent Science News print magazine, which will ship you top notch science reporting right to your door. My father was a subscriber since, well, whenever blue LEDs were invented, because I recall reading about them in Science News.

  Strong recommendation for any science-lover.

• by Mizza on 5/24/25, 1:08 AM

  She didn't even break the top 10 in this content: https://www.societyforscience.org/regeneron-sts/2025-student...

  I'm impressed beyond words by these kids, though I think I'd give her the top prize. Watching my grandfather's final days taken away from him by the effects of morphine has always made me wish so much that we had much more effective non-narcotic painkillers

• by ItsHarper on 5/24/25, 1:02 AM

  This would be incredibly cool if it works in reality and not just simulation. Remarkable that the author is just 17.

• by djtango on 5/24/25, 2:37 AM

  The key synthetic step using Ir was published after I graduated (and left Chemistry...) way to make me feel old :)

  I'm very impressed by the level of chemistry demonstrated by a 17 year old. During my time as a chemistry student this level of project and synthesis probably could have been included as a chunk of a master's thesis. Did she perform all the synthesis herself? That takes a decent amount of experimental skill and more importantly what lab did she do all of this in?

  Any uni ought to be delighted to get a precocious talent like this!

• by throwawaymaths on 5/24/25, 1:12 AM

  impressive for a high schooler but this just adds a protecting group onto tylenol. am i missing something?

  edit: oh i see. its really blurry but the silyl modified tylenol is predicted to have good trpv1 binding computationally. afaict no in vitro or in vivo studies were done. could be cool. not sure if diethylethynylphenylsilyl group has good Lipinski properties though (i suspect not)

  edit: s/aspirin/Tylenol

• by snibsnib on 5/24/25, 4:17 AM

  I'm not an expert in pharmaceutical chemistry, but this looks like a series of relatively complex and low yield reactions. Would it be likely that this would push the price of this product beyond what is reasonable for a general use drug?

• by foxwolf on 5/24/25, 8:17 AM

  All my life, I've suffered from frequent (as in daily) headaches. I even have a photo of myself from my 10th birthday (or thereabouts), where you can visibly tell from how I'm holding my head that I had a headache. The nature and intensity of my headaches has changed over time.

  In my 20's I discovered Excedrin (acetaminophen + caffeine) and, surprisingly, it not only worked, but worked very well. One tablet would kill most of headaches I was having at that time of my life in about 15 minutes.

  Unfortunately, it stopped working for me by the time I was 30. It no longer has any noticeable effect.

  Aspirin, Naproxen, Ibuprofin, and Tylenol 3 have no effect, either.

• by nandomrumber on 5/24/25, 5:05 AM

  Can acetaminophen be packaged with n-acetyl cysteine to render it not rate limited by same?

• by aethrum on 5/24/25, 2:55 AM

  Reminds me of this drug company I was pitched a while ago:

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antibe_Therapeutics

• by CommenterPerson on 5/24/25, 4:23 PM

  This is nothing. My kid discovered dark matter (in middle school).

• by mewse-hn on 5/24/25, 1:14 AM

  so is this already patented by Regeneron?

• by neves on 5/24/25, 1:10 PM

  acetaminophen is paracetamol

  I didn't understand why this post had so many votes

• by more_corn on 5/24/25, 4:30 AM

  How about don’t fucking take it because it’s toxic?