Bruce D. Roth
Bruce D. Roth (* 1952 ) is an American chemist known for developing the drug atorvastatin for lowering cholesterol , which became one of the best-selling drugs under the brand name Lipitor (as of 2003).
In 1976 he received his bachelor's degree from St. Joseph's College in Philadelphia and in 1981 he received his PhD in organic chemistry from George Kraus at Iowa State University . From 1982 he worked for the pharmaceutical company Parke-Davis in Ann Arbor , where in the 1980s he found atorvastatin as an inhibitor of HMG-CoA reductase , which in turn controls the rate of cholesterol synthesis in the body. Atorvastatin was discovered by him in 1985 (while searching for an active ingredient that had an effect similar to statins known from mushrooms ) and was patented in 1986. He became a Research Associate at Parke-Davis in 1986, Senior Research Associate in 1988, Head of Department in 1990, Director of Atherosclerosis, Inflammation and Chemical Exploration in 1992. He then held management positions (Vice President for Chemistry at Pfizer Global Research from 2000) when the company was taken over by Warner-Lambert and Pfizer. In 2007, he joined Genentech as vice president of Small Molecule Drug Discovery .
Atorvastatin came onto the market as Lipitor in 1997.
From 1996 to 2007 he was adjunct professor at the University of Michigan .
In 2003 he received the ACS Award for Creative Invention . In 2008 he was named Hero of Chemistry of the American Chemical Society, in 2013 he received the Perkin Medal and in 2015 he received the NAS Award for Chemistry in Service to Society .
He holds over 40 patents.
Web links
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Roth, Bruce D. |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American chemist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1952 |