C. Robin Ganellin

Charon Robin Ganellin FRS (born 25 January 1934) is a British medicinal chemist, and Emeritus Smith Kline and French Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, at University College London.^[1][2]

Ganellin has contributed much to the field of drug discovery and development. His most outstanding achievement was the discovery of cimetidine, a drug used to combat stomach ulcers, when he was working at Smith Kline and French.^[3] He lives near London and is a professor at University College London.

Early life

Born in East London, Ganellin knew from an early age that his calling was chemistry. During his studies at Harrow County School for Boys, he developed a strong aptitude for science and maths, but his performance in language and history was lacking. Although he enjoyed biology and natural history above his other subjects, he was influenced to pursue a career in chemistry. As his father and his maternal uncle were chemists, he recognised that chemists could make a living. Uncertain if a career in biology was possible, he decided to become a chemist. He began his formal studies at Queen Mary College in London where he received his first degree, a bachelor of science in chemistry. He continued his studies at Queen Mary College, researching tropylium chemistry with Michael J.S. Dewar where he discovered how to isolate the tropylium cation from cyclooctatetraene. For this research, he was awarded his PhD in organic chemistry in 1958 at age 24.

Scientific work

In 1958, shortly after his PhD studies at Queen Mary College, Ganellin joined Smith Kline and French Laboratories in the UK where he began research in medicinal chemistry.^[3] Two years after starting at SK&F, he went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he performed his postdoctoral work with Arthur C. Cope. At MIT, he devised the first direct optical resolution of a chiral olefin using platinum complex chemistry. After a year at MIT, he returned to the UK to resume his work at SK&F. In 1966, he headed a landmark research team at SK&F, collaborating with Sir James Black researching histamine H2-receptor antagonists. This research eventually led to the discovery of Cimetidine, also known by its trademark name Tagamet which is currently produced by GlaxoSmith Kline. Cimetidine quickly garnered over one billion dollars in annual sales, making it the first blockbuster drug,^[4] and it is currently listed by the World Health Organization as one of the most essential drugs.

Awards and achievements

Since graduating, Robin Ganellin has authored or co-authored over 260 scientific papers and is listed as inventor or co-inventor on over 160 US patents. He has served as the president of the IUPAC medicinal chemistry section, and for 10 years (until 2012) he was the chair of the subcommittee on medicinal chemistry and drug development. He has won many awards and commendations over the years, both for his work on cimetidine and his research in other areas of medicinal chemistry. He has received awards in medicinal chemistry from many organisations, such as the Royal Society of Chemistry, the American Chemical Society, the Society of Chemical Industry, the Society for Drug Research, the European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry, the Société Chimie Thérapeutique of France, and the Medicinal Chemistry Division of the Italian Chemical Society.

He was also inducted into the US National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1990 for his work on cimetidine. Ganellin currently serves as the Emeritus Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, although he is now partially retired.

References

External links

• "Charon Robin Ganellin", EHRS
• Tagamet: Discovery of Histamine H₂-receptor Antagonists from American Chemical Society National Historic Chemical Landmarks
• National Inventors Hall of Fame
• https://web.archive.org/web/20080908075932/http://www.soci.org/SCI/awards/2007/html/hn339.jsp
• https://web.archive.org/web/20100721024621/http://wiz2.pharm.wayne.edu/ganellin.html

This page was last edited on 13 April 2024, at 14:03