1. Fast Isotopic Ratio Mass Spectrometry (FIRMS) Software and the Counterfeit Pharmaceutical Market
Alexander McKim
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Paul Hinker
National Science Foundation, SPACT REU Summer 2016
Introduction
Fast Isotopic ratio Mass Spectrometry (FIRMS) goal is to read in mass spectra data, and predict the isotopic ratios of the compound under inspection. It is being produced with the goal of targeting the source chemical used to produce drugs
Counterfeit pharmaceutical market is multi-billion dollar industry.
The counterfeit pharmaceutical industry is projected to grow faster than the legal industry.
Law enforcement has currently been ineffective at making any dent into illegal businesses.
The sale of counterfeit pharmaceuticals has sometimes been linked to contributing to the funding of terrorist organizations.
Results
Find that FIRMS will affect production of the drugs.
Losing production capabilities will lose customers, causing growth to slow down.
Will take time for company to return to pre-FIRMS growth level.
Objectives
1. Identify the impact that a working FIRMS software can possibly have on the counterfeit pharmaceutical market, how the market currently operates, and investigate why FIRMS is currently giving error.
2. Study the role of technology and the internet in the counterfeit pharmaceutical business.
Each Segment of the market seems to have top players who take most of the profit, similar to an oligopoly.
FIRMS math is more consistent after finding that you must keep track of every individual bond when fragmenting a certain isotope, and which is actually fragmented.
Figure 2: Basic example of Mass Spectrum.
Figure 1: Topography, how the software finds relative maximums/minimums.
Procedures/Development
Understand how FIRMS will accomplish its goal by further proving the math behind the project.
Understand how the market makes and distributes drugs.
Explain how FIRMS could potentially affect the market.
Figure 7: Shows companies gaining new customers over time.
Conclusions
Chemical source is “head of the spider”.
FIRMS has to keep track of more than expected.
Illegal businesses understand how to grow their market and take advantage of demand.
Technology is the greatest tool worldwide businesses use to grow their market.
These global markets are what should be targeted when attempting to interdict this market.
Software Background
GUI which allows execution of
simple, preset molecules like
C19H19N7O6..(Figure 3)
Software finds all possible
compounds by listing each
isotope of each element, and
predicts which combination
matches the mass spectrum.
Figure 5: Chart showing thousands of results for drugs online, many results are illegal.
Figure 6: Picture showing example of a global market and the different segments involved.
Future Work
Work on keeping tracks of all chemical bonds, and implementing this in the software
Look into the demographics of who buys counterfeit drugs, see if repeat buyers significant
Get a more in depth look on how and where the drugs are made. For example, whether a large factory will be devoted to one drug, or if they typically make many different types.
Figure 4: FIRMS is showing here all of the possible isotope combinations for this compound.
Acknowledgements:
This work was made possible by the National Science Foundation SPACT REU. Thanks to Dr. Paul Hinker and Dr. Brian Logue, and site director Dr. Grant Crawford.