Robert Arthur Oberlender (born July 25, 1956) is an American medicinal chemist known for his work in the areas of serotonergic and dopaminergic drugs as well as drug discrimination.[2][3][1] He is most well known for his discovery and development of lisdexamfetamine (lysine–dextroamphetamine), which is now marketed as a pharmaceutical drug under the brand name Vyvanse and is prescribed as a misuse-resistant stimulant in the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and other conditions.[2][3][6]
Robert Arthur Oberlender | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 25, 1956[1] |
| Alma mater | Temple University (B.S.), Purdue University (Ph.D.)[2][1] |
| Occupations | Medicinal chemist; Assistant professor[2][1][3] |
| Years active | 1984–present[1][4] |
| Organization(s) | Purdue University (1981–1995); University of the Pacific; New River Pharmaceuticals (2000–2007); Synthonics (2007–)[1][5][3] |
| Known for | Work in the area of serotonergic and dopaminergic drugs, discovery and development of lisdexamfetamine (Vyvanse)[2][3] |
Biography
editOberlender attended the pharmacy school of Temple University in his hometown of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, receiving a bachelor's degree, and worked for two years as a pharmacist.[2][1][3] Then, he started a Ph.D. program in medicinal chemistry at Purdue University in 1981.[2][3][1] He worked in the lab of psychedelic chemist David E. Nichols studying psychedelics, entactogens, and related drugs, first completing his Ph.D. and then continuing in the lab as a postdoc.[2][3][1] His first publication with the lab was in 1984[4] and his last publication with the group was in 1995, a period spanning more than 10 years.[3][5] His Ph.D. thesis, published in 1989, was on stereoselective actions of psychedelics, including the lysergamides LA-Aziridine and LA-3Cl-SB and the DOx drugs DOIB and DOSB, as well as on drug discrimination studies of entactogens, including MDA, MDMA, MBDB, and MDAI.[1][3]
Oberlender personally self-experimented with some of the psychoactive drugs synthesized in the Nichols lab.[3] In the mid-1990s, he tried the obscure psychedelic tryptamine 5-MeO-pyr-T, a synthetic analogue of 5-MeO-DMT, and accidentally took too high of a dose of it without a trip sitter present.[3] While under the influence of 5-MeO-pyr-T, Oberlender stripped naked, began wandering the Purdue University campus in a fugue state, and was apprehended by campus police.[3] His case did not end up going to court, but the incident did result in Oberlender having to leave Nichols's lab.[3] His experience with 5-MeO-pyr-T was subsequently published anonymously in Alexander Shulgin's 1997 book TiHKAL (Tryptamines I Have Known and Loved).[3][7] The chemist publicly shared further details of the incident during an interview with psychedelic journalist Hamilton Morris in 2021, describing it as a cautionary tale of the risks of self-experimentation with little-known psychoactive drugs and the importance of careful dose escalation and of having a trip sitter.[3]
After leaving the Nichols lab, Oberlender worked as an assistant professor of medicinal chemistry at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.[2][3] In 2000, he joined New River Pharmaceuticals in Blacksburg, Virginia and served as a director of drug misuse science.[2][3] While at New River Pharmaceuticals, Oberlender had a key role in discovering and developing the misuse-resistant dextroamphetamine prodrug and psychostimulant lisdexamfetamine, which had the developmental code name NRP-104.[2][3] Oberlender and colleagues patented lisdexamfetamine in 2006 and 2007.[8][9] New River Pharmaceuticals was purchased by Shire in 2007.[10] That same year, lisdexamfetamine was initially approved and introduced for medical use under the brand name Vyvanse in the United States.[10][11] Following these events, Oberlender started working at Synthonics in Blackburg, Virginia and began developing metal-coordinated pharmaceutical drugs at the company.[2]
Selected publications
edit- Nichols, David E.; Oberlender, Robert (5 January 1984). "Behavioral Techniques in Neuroreceptor Research". Frontiers of Neurology and Neuroscience. Vol. 10. S. Karger AG. pp. 108–119. doi:10.1159/000408385. ISBN 978-3-8055-3715-5. PMID 6321967.
{{cite book}}:|journal=ignored (help) - Oberlender RA, Kothari PJ, Nichols DE, Zabik JE (June 1984). "Substituent branching in phenethylamine-type hallucinogens: a comparison of 1-[2,5-dimethoxy-4-(2-butyl)phenyl]-2-aminopropane and 1-[2,5-dimethoxy-4-(2-methylpropyl)phenyl]-2-aminopropane" (PDF). J Med Chem. 27 (6): 788–92. doi:10.1021/jm00372a015. PMID 6737421.
- Nichols DE, Schooler D, Yeung MC, Oberlender RA, Zabik JE (September 1984). "Unreliability of the rat stomach fundus as a predictor of hallucinogenic activity in substituted phenethylamines". Life Sci. 35 (13): 1343–1348. doi:10.1016/0024-3205(84)90390-4. PMID 6482656.
- Nichols DE, Hoffman AJ, Oberlender RA, Jacob P, Shulgin AT (October 1986). "Derivatives of 1-(1,3-benzodioxol-5-yl)-2-butanamine: representatives of a novel therapeutic class" (PDF). J Med Chem. 29 (10): 2009–2015. doi:10.1021/jm00160a035. PMID 3761319.
- Oberlender R, Nichols DE (1988). "Drug discrimination studies with MDMA and amphetamine". Psychopharmacology (Berl). 95 (1): 71–76. doi:10.1007/BF00212770. PMID 2898791.
- Nichols DE, Oberlender R (1989). "Structure-activity relationships of MDMA-like substances" (PDF). NIDA Res Monogr. 94: 1–29. PMID 2575223. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 11, 2023.
- Oberlender, Robert Arthur (May 1989). Stereoselective Aspects of Hallucinogenic Drug Action and Drug Discrimination Studies of Entactogens (Thesis). Purdue University. Archived from the original on 15 June 2025.
VITA: Robert Oberlender was born on July 25, 1956 to Martin and Betty Oberlender in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. [...]
Alt URL - Nichols DE, Brewster WK, Johnson MP, Oberlender R, Riggs RM (February 1990). "Nonneurotoxic tetralin and indan analogues of 3,4-(methylenedioxy)amphetamine (MDA)". J Med Chem. 33 (2): 703–710. doi:10.1021/jm00164a037. PMID 1967651.
- Nichols DE, Oberlender R (1990). "Structure-activity relationships of MDMA and related compounds: a new class of psychoactive drugs?". Ann N Y Acad Sci. 600: 613–623, discussion 623–625. doi:10.1007/978-1-4613-1485-1_7. PMID 1979214.
- Nichols, David F.; Oberlender, Robert (1990). "Structure-Activity Relationships of MDMA and Related Compounds: A New Class of Psychoactive Agents?". Ecstasy: The Clinical, Pharmacological and Neurotoxicological Effects of the Drug MDMA. Vol. 9. Boston, MA: Springer US. pp. 105–131. doi:10.1007/978-1-4613-1485-1_7. ISBN 978-1-4612-8799-5. PMID 1979214. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
{{cite book}}:|journal=ignored (help) - Nichols DE, Oberlender R, McKenna DJ (1991). "Stereochemical Aspects of Hallucinogenesis". In Watson RR (ed.). Biochemistry and Physiology of Substance Abuse. Vol. 3. Boca Raton, Fla.: CRC Press. pp. 1–39. ISBN 978-0-8493-4463-3. OCLC 26748320.
- Johnson MP, Frescas SP, Oberlender R, Nichols DE (May 1991). "Synthesis and pharmacological examination of 1-(3-methoxy-4-methylphenyl)-2-aminopropane and 5-methoxy-6-methyl-2-aminoindan: similarities to 3,4-(methylenedioxy)methamphetamine (MDMA)" (PDF). J Med Chem. 34 (5): 1662–1668. doi:10.1021/jm00109a020. PMID 1674539.
- Nichols DE, Johnson MP, Oberlender R (January 1991). "5-Iodo-2-aminoindan, a nonneurotoxic analogue of p-iodoamphetamine". Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 38 (1): 135–139. doi:10.1016/0091-3057(91)90601-w. PMID 1826785.
- Oberlender R, Pfaff RC, Johnson MP, Huang XM, Nichols DE (January 1992). "Stereoselective LSD-like activity in d-lysergic acid amides of (R)- and (S)-2-aminobutane". J Med Chem. 35 (2): 203–211. doi:10.1021/jm00080a001. PMID 1732537.
- Pfaff RC, Huang X, Marona-Lewicka D, Oberlender R, Nichols DE (1994). "Lysergamides revisited" (PDF). NIDA Res Monogr. 146: 52–73. PMID 8742794. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 5, 2023.
See also
editReferences
edit- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Oberlender, Robert Arthur (May 1989). Stereoselective Aspects of Hallucinogenic Drug Action and Drug Discrimination Studies of Entactogens (Thesis). Purdue University. Archived from the original on 15 June 2025. Alt URL
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Robert A. Oberlender, PhD". The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Hamilton Morris (22 August 2021). "PODCAST 26: An interview with Vyvanse inventor Dr. Robert Oberlender". The Hamilton Morris Podcast (Podcast). Patreon. Archived from the original on 19 August 2022. Alt URL
- 1 2 Oberlender RA, Kothari PJ, Nichols DE, Zabik JE (June 1984). "Substituent branching in phenethylamine-type hallucinogens: a comparison of 1-[2,5-dimethoxy-4-(2-butyl)phenyl]-2-aminopropane and 1-[2,5-dimethoxy-4-(2-methylpropyl)phenyl]-2-aminopropane" (PDF). J Med Chem. 27 (6): 788–792. doi:10.1021/jm00372a015. PMID 6737421.
- 1 2 Oberlender R, Ramachandran PV, Johnson MP, Huang X, Nichols DE (September 1995). "Effect of a chiral 4-alkyl substituent in hallucinogenic amphetamines". J Med Chem. 38 (18): 3593–3601. doi:10.1021/jm00018a019. PMID 7658446.
- ↑ Roncero C, Álvarez FJ (August 2014). "The use of lisdexamfetamine dimesylate for the treatment of ADHD and other psychiatric disorders". Expert Rev Neurother. 14 (8): 849–865. doi:10.1586/14737175.2014.932691. PMID 24948428.
- ↑ Alexander T. Shulgin; Ann Shulgin (1997). "#43. 5-MeO-pyr-T; TRYPTAMINE, 5-METHOXY-N,N-TETRAMETHYLENE; INDOLE, 5-METHOXY-3-[2-(1-PYRROLIDYL)- ETHYL]; PYRROLIDINE, 1-[2-(5-METHOXY-1H-INDOL-3-YL)ETHYL]; 5-METHOXY-N,N-TETRAMETHYLENETRYPTAMINE; 5-METHOXY-3-[2-(1-PYRROLIDYL)ETHYL]INDOLE; 1-[2-(5-METHOXY-1H-INDOL-3-YL)ETHYL]PYRROLIDINE; "PYRROLIDYL-5-METHOXYTRYPTAMINE"". TiHKAL: The Continuation (1st ed.). Berkeley, CA: Transform Press. pp. 548–551. ISBN 978-0-9630096-9-2. OCLC 38503252.
(with 4 mgs, smoking) "This was the free base. I remember the pipe, and the inhalation and, with the pouring of a small glass of scotch, I settled down in front of the TV to watch a re-run of Star Trek. That was it. I came to some time later in the front room of a professional ally of mine, who had by chance discovered me walking down the street near his house. I do not recall, nor have I been able to regain any memories of the time I was 'out there.' I apparently experienced no physical discomfort from the drug. In fact I distinctly remember feeling very comfortable when I awoke. Clearly this compound is some weird-ass shit."
- ↑ Mickle, T., Krishnan, S., Bishop, B., Lauderback, C., Moncrief, J. S., Oberlender, R., & Piccariello, T. (2006). Abuse‐resistant amphetamine compounds (US 7,105,486 B2). United States. https://patents.google.com/patent/US7105486B2/en
- ↑ Mickle, T., Krishnan, S., Bishop, B., Lauderback, C., Moncrief, J. S., Oberlender, R., ... & Verbicky, C. A. (2007). Abuse-resistant amphetamine prodrugs. US20070042955 (A1), 111. https://patents.google.com/patent/US20070042955A1/
- 1 2 "Shire buys New River Pharmaceuticals for $2.6 billion". PharmaTimes. 21 February 2007. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
- ↑ "Lisdexamfetamine". AdisInsight. 5 November 2023. Retrieved 16 June 2025.