Development of Commercial Manufacturing Processes for Acalabrutinib

The development of processes to produce the Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor, acalabrutinib 1, has resulted in improvements to the yield, cycle time, and operability, to realize a robust commercial manufacturing process. A highly accelerated clinical program meant that numerous key process challenges had to be resolved in a short timeframe. Issues are discussed, such as the uncontrolled epimerization of a chiral center and the control of the acalabrutinib 1 crystallization step, which was prone to oiling. Specifically, work to understand the complex polymorph landscape of a key intermediate (to facilitate resolution of a filtration issue) is described.