FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 25, 1997
Contact: Jeff Trewhitt; (202) 835-3469
GLAXO WELLCOME, UCSF RESEARCHER SHARE DISCOVERERS AWARD FOR EXOSURF NEONATAL
Boca Raton, FL. -- In a tribute to the value of industry/academic research, PhRMA awarded its 1996 Discoverers Award to the team that developed Exosurf NeonatalÆ, a medicine that gives premature babies a substance they need to breathe.
Exosurf NeonatalÆ was discovered by John A. Clements, M.D., the Julius H. Comroe Professor of Pulmonary Biology at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF). The product was developed by a group of scientists at Burroughs Wellcome which later merged with Glaxo Inc. to become Glaxo Wellcome Inc. The Glaxo Wellcome development team included Edward N. Pattishall, M.D., U.S. Director of Cardiovascular/Critical Care Medicine, and Layne Gothard, Manager of International Medical Outsourcing.
"Thanks to Dr. Clements and the group of scientists at Glaxo Wellcome, hundreds of thousands of babies who might otherwise have died are healthy, growing children," PhRMA Chairman Charles A. Heimbold, Jr., said today. "Exosurf NeonatalÆ won FDA approval in 1990, and since that time, infant mortality has dropped. Some hospitals have closed special units that used to care for infants with Respiratory Distress Syndrome."
Heimbold applauded the "very fruitful relationship between Glaxo Wellcome and the UCSF, which provides a powerful example of how collaboration between industry and academia can benefit patients."
The 1996 Discoverers Award honoring the discoverer and developers of Exosurf NeonatalÆ was awarded today at the 1997 Annual Meeting of the PhRMA Board of Directors.
PhRMA presents the Discoverers Award each year to scientists whose research and development have greatly benefited society. The recipient of the 1995 award was Fu-Kuen Lin, Ph.D., of Amgen, who engineered the gene that produces erythropoietin, EPO, making possible the production of the medicine EPOGENÆ. People with kidney failure suffer from diminished production of EPO, and EPOGENÆ has vastly improved the quality of life for about 200,000 Americans on kidney dialysis.
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Dr. Clements, the discoverer of Exosurf NeonatalÆ, began his research career on the physiology of respiration in 1949 when he was assigned by the Army to develop defenses against gases that cause respiratory failure.
He began formulating Exosurf NeonatalÆ in the early 1980s. In 1986, Wellcome agreed to provide the resources and expertise needed to move Exosurf through the drug development process. The company signed an agreement with the University of California, San Francisco, for the right to produce and sell the medicine. Planning for large scale clinical trials for Exosurf in the United States and Canada began in 1987, based on the success of a few smaller tests.
FDA approved the drug on August 2, 1990.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) represents the country's leading research-based pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, which are devoted to inventing medicines that allow patients to lead longer, happier, healthier and more productive lives. Investing nearly $19 billion a year in discovering and developing new medicines, PhRMA companies are leading the way in the search for cures.
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PhRMA Internet Address: http://www.phrma.org
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