Immunovir versus Inosine Revisited, Part 2

Part 1 of this series is here.

Inosine not as effective
The patent INOSINE DERIVATIVES asserts that the inosine complex it describes has significantly different in vivo biological effects than inosine by itself. It states in regard to viral infection, "inosine alone was ineffective against herpes virus and had a minor insignificant effect against influenza virus." Between this and other anecdotal evidence, and the complete lack of any completed or proposed clinical trials on the use of inosine to treat viral infections, I conclude that the substitution is not scientifically or clinically justified. But why is the real Immunovir so difficult to get? A better question would be, if Immunovir is more than just inosine, what IS it?

What Immunovir really is
According the Wikipedia article (which is actually a one sentence stub article) for Immunovir (Inosine Pranobex), the drug is a combination of inosine, acetamidobenzoic acid, and dimethylaminoisopropanol. A study of Isoprinosine on AIDS describes it as "a synthetic molecular complex formed from inosine and the p-acetamidobenzoic acid salt of N,N-dimethyl amino-2 propanol in a 1 to 3 molar ratio" (presumably different words for the same chemicals). This information is nice, but I know almost nothing about chemistry. Inosine obviously--I know what that is and where to get it. But what are the other two chemicals and how are these components brought together?

This information can be found by reading the patent (which I think is not the actual drug patent but an earlier related one), along with various other sources. Anyway, the patent describes the substance as inosine combined with an amino alcohol and an acid. This substance is claimed to enhance learning and treat viral infections, among other things.

The patent states that the preferred amino alcohol is dimethylamino isopropanol (DMAIP) (I think the name has changed and the difference in chemical naming conventions from the 1970s to today did not help my search efforts). The patent also names a few other amino alcohols that could be used, but DMAIP is the official one used in Immunovir/Isoprinosine.

Since amino alcohol is very basic (the opposite of acidic), and thus caustic, an acid is added, preferably acetamidobenzoic acid, to neutralize the pH and form a salt. The resulting salt is then mixed together with the inosine, dissolved in water, and evaporated to form the final substance which can then presumably be formed into tablets.

To paraphrase, the process of making Immunovir/Isoprinosine is as follows. Form a salt by mixing the amino alcohol (dimethylaminoisopropyl) with the acid (acetamidobenzoic acid), mix the salt with the inosine, dissolve in water, and evaporate. Sounds like a pretty simple thing for a pharmaceutical company to make.

Homemade antiviral drug?
I began to wonder if I could make this stuff myself. But where would I find these chemicals, and would it be safe? At one point, I honestly tried searching the websites of chemical suppliers. I think I saw some of these chemicals available, but then I realized the whole industrial chemical supplier idea was a bit far fetched. There had to be a better way.

Reading over the patent over and over again, eventually I realized that there was nothing special biologically about the acid chosen, acetamidobenzoic acid, and so I was able to simplify matters. The patent gives a long list of acids that can be used. Mere HCl was used in some experiments. The acid's sole purpose in the mix is to balance the pH of the amino alcohol, and acetamidobenzoic acid is preferred only because the resulting salt is solid and not hygroscopic (does not absorb moisture). Absorbing moisture isn't much of a concern of mine considering I don't plan on participating in the illegal activity of making tablets and selling them. I could simply dissolve the substance in water and drink it anyway. So that part was something I didn't need to worry about.

Back to trying to find how to buy the amino alcohol, my Google searches were not proving very fruitful. I remembered that the patent specifies several amino alcohols can be used, and though dimethylaminoisopropyl is what is used in Immunovir, I decided to try to find some of the other ones. The patent stated that the second most preferable amino alcohol was dimethylaminoethanol. The two don't seem much different--an amino isopropyl alcohol versus an amino ethanol alcohol. But I decided to look for dimethylaminoethanol.

Dimethylaminoethanol, I surprisingly discovered, is sold as a dietary supplement. It's commonly referred to as just DMAE on the packaging. Apparently some people use it to increase mental alertness or to allegedly increase life expectancy. I had never heard of this supplement but was glad to see it exists. Furthermore, the DMAE which is available off the shelf is already mixed with an acid--tartaric acid usually, forming a salt called dimethylaminoethanol bitartrate. So one of the steps, mixing the amino alcohol and the acid, is already done.

So all one needs to do is take simple over the counter DMAE (dimethylamino bitartrate) and over the counter inosine, both available at vitamin/health food stores, mix them together in the proper proportions, and take the substance dissolved in water in order to have a homemade substitute for Immunovir at a fraction of the price; and without the hassles of importing, hoping it gets through customs at the border, etc. The main difference between the two being (other than the acid which is not important) that Immunovir is made with an amino isopropyl alcohol and the homemade version is an amino ethanol alcohol. The patent implies that they are similar enough and hopefully the will work similarly enough in vivo, but I do not know for sure. While the resulting substance will be very similar using a different alcohols might alter the effects and it might not work as well as real Isoprinosine/Immmunovir.

Measurements and ratios
For Isoprinosine, a molar ratio of 1:3 inosine to amino alcohol is used. The dimethylaminoisopropyl used in the official drug is about 102g/mol but DMAE is only 89g/mol; inosine is 268.23g/mol. Therefore in terms of mass (grams) the proper proportion is 268.23g inosine to (89.14*3) or 267.42g DMAE...basically 1:1 by mass. According to the label on the Life Extension DMAE bitartrate powder, there is 68mg DMAE in 185mg DMAE bitartrate, so one needs 2.72g of that to get 1g of DMAE, so the ratio is 1g inosine to about 2.7g DMAE bitartrate.

So to make 100 grams of "homemade Immunovir/Isoprinosine like substitute", one would need 27g inosine and 73g DMAE bitartrate. It would be best to purchase these products in bulk as it would be cheaper, and one wouldn't have to worry about capsule fillers or trying to crush tablets. Life Extension is one brand that offers both of these products, selling each in 100g canisters. Of the places I looked at, iHerb had the cheapest prices (see link to inosine and link to DMAE). I have bought products from iHerb before and have been satisfied with their service (if you have never been an iHerb customer before and you use referral code OMA516, you get $5.00 off your first order).

Cost
Current prices at iHerb.com are:
$39 for 100g inosine
$18 for 100g DMAE bitartrate

To make 100 grams (pro rata, excluding shipping or coupons):
27g * $39/100g = $10.53
73g * $18/100g = $13.14
Total $23.67

So 100g costs $23.67, or just under $11.84 for 50g -- the same amount that is in a 100 tablet box of 500mg tablets of Immunovir. Compare $11.84 to the cost of $280.00 that user "Eucalypta" reported for the official version. That is a 24 fold difference.

Probably the best way to do this would be to premix the powders together and then, whenever a dose is desired, mix the right amount into water "on demand" or "just-in-time" so to speak. It might be desirable to mix in a filler of some type so that there is a convenient amount of the active ingredient per an ordinal amount of volume (e.g. so one could measure out one teaspoon instead of some crazy fraction like 48/95 teaspoon or whatever...unless you have a milligram scale). I have no idea what the taste or texture would be like. I am interested in finding out though, as well as finding out whether taking this substance will produce an improvement in my condition.

Disclaimer
It must be kept in mind that Immunovir is a drug that requires a prescription in most of the countries in which it is available; also, this homemade formula is not identical to the drug. One difference is that the drug uses an amino isopropyl alcohol whereas this uses an amino ethanol alcohol. I am just putting this information out there and what others choose to do with the information is up to them. The above information may have mistakes and there may be other risks involved. This blog is not meant as medical advice but as documentation of my own treatments.

Again, this is very similar to Isoprinosine/Immunovir but it is not precisely the same thing. There is no way to know for sure if it will work as well or even at all, but it is much closer to the real thing than just inosine by itself.

Part 3 to come
I am going to try this formula very soon and will write about my experience in a third installment of this series. Any other CFS patients wanting to try making their own "inosine amino alcohol complex" might want to wait until I try it myself and can report on how it goes.