This is Eltrombopag, a novel drug for primary immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), a blood disease that affects about one hundred people per million population per year in its worst forms, but its incidence may be higher in mild forms, which can be missed.

ITP is a rare chronic disease of the blood, which causes the decrease in platelets, it has quite serious consequences for patients, and that platelets are blood cells whose function is to stop the bleeding. Its half-life is about 10 days and a healthy home to between 150,000 and 450,000 platelets per cubic centimeter of blood.

These patients have symptoms that range from the bruising or bleeding gums, until internal bleeding which can be quite serious.

The drug stimulates production of platelets in patients who have not responded to other treatments and offers convenience in administration, as it is by mouth. Eltrombopag is a chemical compound of low molecular weight, which was identified during a campaign screening of the library of chemical compounds from GSK.

The researcher Marta de los Frailes, a molecular biologist and director of group screening pharmacological GSK CIB in Spain, said that "the compound demonstrated comparable activity to the natural ligand, the human thrombopoietin in multiple biochemical and cellular assays" . Eltrombopag has been recognized as Best Biotechnology Product in 2009 (Prix Galien USA) for their ability to increase platelet levels without inhibiting the normal production of antibodies in the treatment of thrombocytopenia.

Facilities at the CIB, which specializes in the identification of low-weight molecules with pharmacological activity are among the most modern in the industry for this type of process, making it a focal point for research.