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Independent study: Zephrex-D effective in thwarting meth production

May 30, 2013 | By Michael Johnsen

ST. LOUIS — Westport Pharmaceuticals on Wednesday announced findings from independent testing of their meth-resistant pseudoephedrine product, Zephrex-D. The specially formulated pseudoephedrine product helps make it impractical and nearly impossible to illicitly manufacture methamphetamine.

According to the January 2013 "General Accounting Office Report," more than 87% of domestic meth labs utilize the One Pot meth-making method. Testing demonstrates that meth cannot be produced from Zephrex-D using this popular One Pot method.

Other, more traditional meth-making methods, which utilize an extraction to conversion two-step process, have proven to be impractical using Zephrex-D. In recent independent laboratory tests of Zephrex-D, traditional extraction/conversion manufacturing methods converted less than one half of one percent (0.5%) of the pseudoephedrine into meth. When more advanced analytical conversion methods were applied to Zephrex-D, the yield was less than 2.0%. And, the small amount of meth produced is still locked in excipients that cannot be smoked, injected or snorted.

By way of example, given the Zephrex-D formulation and assuming a standard meth dose of 250 milligrams, meth makers using traditional extraction/conversion methods would have to buy almost 1,800 30mg pills to convert enough pseudoephedrine into one dose of meth, coming at a cost of over $450 for the Zephrex-D alone, the company noted. Additionally, high manufacturing cycle time and other supply costs associated with this process make it economically infeasible. This figure is in comparison to a traditional pseudoephedrine product where only about 11 30mg tablets are needed to manufacture one dose of meth ($2.31 approximate cost).

Meth sells on the street for about $30 per 250mg dose, Westport Pharmaceuticals noted.