Henry Rzepa's blog

Here is an inside peek at another one of Derek Lowe’s 250 milestones in chemistry, the polymorphism of Ritonavir.[1] The story in a nutshell concerns one of a pharma company’s worst nightmares; a drug which has been successfully brought to market unexpectedly “changes” after a few years on market to a less effective form (or to use the drug term, formulation). This can happen via a phenomenon known as polymorphism, where the crystalline structure of a molecule can have more than one form. In this case, form I was formulated into soluble tablets for oral intake. During later manufacturing, a new less-soluble form appeared and “within weeks this new polymorph began to appear throughout both the bulk drug and formulation areas“[1]

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References

1. J. Bauer, S. Spanton, R. Henry, J. Quick, W. Dziki, W. Porter, and J. Morris, "Array", Pharmaceutical Research, vol. 18, pp. 859-866, 2001. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1011052932607