Data-Mining for Sulfur and Fluorine: An Evaluation of Pharmaceuticals To Reveal Opportunities for Drug Design and Discovery

TLDR

Sulfur and fluorine are major constituents of pharmaceuticals, alongside carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. The study evaluates the evolution and structural diversity of sulfur and fluorine in drugs over the past 50 years, using statistics from 1969 therapeutics across 12 disease categories, to promote innovative insights into drug development. The authors compiled a graphical montage of disease‑focused pharmaceutical posters, each displaying drugs with structural images, FDA approval dates, INN, market names, and color‑coded functional subclasses, organized chronologically by clinical indication.

Abstract

Among carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, sulfur and fluorine are both leading constituents of the pharmaceuticals that comprise our medicinal history. In efforts to stimulate the minds of both the general public and expert scientist, statistics were collected from the trends associated with therapeutics spanning 12 disease categories (a total of 1969 drugs) from our new graphical montage compilation: disease focused pharmaceuticals posters. Each poster is a vibrant display of a collection of pharmaceuticals (including structural image, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval date, international nonproprietary name (INN), initial market name, and a color-coded subclass of function) organized chronologically and classified according to an association with a particular clinical indication. Specifically, the evolution and structural diversity of sulfur and the popular integration of fluorine into drugs introduced over the past 50 years are evaluated. The presented qualitative conclusions in this article aim to promote innovative insights into drug development.