Sir James W. Black, M.D., F.R.S., the recipient of the 1988 Nobel Prize for Medicine once said, "The easiest way to find a drug is to start with one."
Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Concert Pharmaceuticals, Inc. appear to subscribe to Black's view as they have recently announced an exclusive license agreement that gives Avanir worldwide rights to develop and commercialize Concert's deuterium-modified cough suppressant - dextromethorphan (d-DXM) - for the potential treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders.
Since the discovery of deuterium in 1934, its biological effects have been extensively studied. One of every 6,400 hydrogen atoms is actually deuterium - a hydrogen isotope whose nucleus contains a proton and a neutron. (The nucleus of protium, the more common hydrogen isotope, only contains a proton.)... Read More - http://www.msrc.co.uk/index.cfm/fuseact ... ageid/3509