Who holds the patent on J147?

The Salk Institute for Biological Studies filed WO2017015660A1, 'Prevention and treatment of aging and neurodegenerative diseases', on 25 July 2016, naming Pamela A. Maher and David R. Schubert as inventors. That position was licensed to Abrexa Pharmaceuticals, which sponsored the Phase 1 trial. The full family membership, the national-phase territories and the per-territory expiry dates are not established on this page and we say so rather than implying a clear field.

What does purity mean for a compound like J147?

Identity confirmed by NMR and mass spectrometry, chromatographic purity with the impurity profile actually named rather than a single percentage figure, residual solvent accounted for, and the solid-state form known. A percentage on a certificate is a claim; the chromatogram and the spectra are the evidence.

Scaffold · Synthesis · Characterisation · IP

The chemistry, and what a certificate does not tell you

J147 is a curcumin-derived small molecule built on a pyrazole-linked hydrazide scaffold — a structure reached by replacing curcumin's unstable diketone with a stable linker. That single change is most of why J147 behaves like a drug candidate and curcumin does not. The Salk Institute filed WO2017015660A1 on 25 July 2016, naming Maher and Schubert, and licensed the position to Abrexa.

Curcumin's problem is chemical before it is pharmacological. Understanding how the derivative escapes that problem is the most useful thing a chemist can know about this compound.

What was wrong with curcumin, chemically

Schematic, not a structure drawing for synthesis: the argument is the linker. Curcumin's β-diketone is its liability — tautomerising, hydrolysing, degrading at physiological pH. The derivative keeps the aromatic ends and replaces the middle. Original diagram, Panacea Bio Chem; for the authoritative structure and route, read the primary papers linked below.

Synthesis, in outline

The published routes are convergent and short — which is part of the compound's appeal and part of why it has been made by many groups since 2011. The aromatic fragments are prepared separately and joined through the heterocyclic linker. The route is not where the difficulty lives. The difficulty is making the molecule reproducibly clean — and that is decided by the platform it is made on and the analytics standing behind it.

Made on SYNTHESERACT™

Panacea Bio Chem's synthetic work runs on SYNTHESERACT™ — our own CF-SPPS platform, invented by Bogdan Dicoias — under our control from starting material to isolated solid. The purest route to a compound is the one you own end to end: an impurity profile generated in-house is a fact, and one inherited on a supplier's certificate is somebody else's claim about a bottle you did not watch being filled.

The J147 programme at Panacea Bio Chem is ongoing and directional; no specific result is asserted here.

What characterisation actually has to prove

"98 % pure" is a number on a page. These are the questions it should be the answer to:

Question	What answers it	Why it matters for J147
Is it the right molecule?	NMR and mass spectrometry	The scaffold has close structural relatives — including CAD-031, a different compound derived from J147. Identity is not assumed from a label.
What else is in the bottle?	Chromatography with the impurity profile named, not just totalled	A single percentage hides which impurities and at what level. In a compound dosed by body weight in animal work, that distinction is the experiment's validity.
What solvent is still in it?	Residual solvent analysis	Residual solvent shifts the effective mass of a weighed dose and can carry its own biological activity.
What solid is it?	Solid-state characterisation	Form drives dissolution, and dissolution drives that 28 % — the one number with the most room to move.
Is it the same in six months?	Stability study, stated conditions	A derivative built specifically to be more stable than curcumin should be able to demonstrate it.

The patent position, honestly

What is established	Source
WO2017015660A1 / PCT/US2016/043863, “Prevention and treatment of aging and neurodegenerative diseases”; applicant Salk Institute for Biological Studies; inventors Pamela A. Maher and David R. Schubert; filed 25 July 2016	WIPO / Google Patents
The Salk position was licensed to Abrexa Pharmaceuticals, which sponsored the Phase 1	Salk Institute; trial sponsorship record

What is not established, and is not implied anywhere on this site: the complete patent family, which national phases were entered, which territories currently have granted and in-force claims, and the per-territory expiry dates. Establishing that requires a full family pull across Espacenet, USPTO and CNIPA, and we have not done it.

A freedom-to-operate opinion is a legal document produced by people qualified to produce one. This page is not that, does not substitute for it, and anyone planning commercial activity around this scaffold should commission one.

The compound family, kept straight

J147

The curcumin-derived compound this site is about. Target ATP5A. One completed Phase 1.

CAD-031

A separate compound derived from J147, with overlapping neuroprotective properties and reported effects on neural stem cell division. Not a synonym for J147, despite secondary sources that print it as one.

CMS121

A fisetin derivative — a different natural-product lineage entirely. It has since been through a Phase 1 of its own, reported in a 2025 preprint that has not completed peer review.