George B. Rathmann

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George Blatz Rathmann (born December 25, 1927 in Milwaukee , Wisconsin , † April 22, 2012 in Palo Alto , California ) was an American chemist and co-founder of the pharmaceutical companies Amgen and Icos .

Life

George Blatz Rathmann was born in Milwaukee to Louis Rathmann, a retailer, security professional and insurance agent, and Edna Blatz, a brewer. He studied chemistry at Northwestern University and received his PhD in physical chemistry from Princeton University in 1951 . He had his first job at 3M . He then worked for several different companies and rose to head a research department at Abbott Laboratories . He resigned from this position and in 1980 helped raise $ 19 million in start-up capital to set up the biotech company Amgen . From then on, it developed different drugs based on DNA knowledge. Epoetin α was developed from 1983 , which came on the market in 1989 and became the first blockbuster in biotechnology.

Rathmann tried to repeat the success with Icos . After co-founding this company, he received support from a variety of donors, including Bill Gates with a $ 5 million investment. The company was acquired by Eli Lilly and Company in 2007 for more than $ 2 billion . In the company's history, three of twelve potential drugs have been approved.

For his services he was awarded the Glenn T. Seaborg Medal of the University of California, Los Angeles in 1995 and the Biotechnology Heritage Award in 1999 .

Rathmann died on April 22, 2012 of complications from pneumonia at his home in Palo Alto, California. He left behind his wife, three daughters, a son and thirteen grandchildren.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b George Rathmann, Amgen Chief, Dies at 84.nytimes.com, April 24, 2012
  2. ↑ Scholarships and Fellowships , princeton.edu
  3. ↑ Amgen's First CEO , wsj.com
  4. ↑ a b George B. Rathmann dies at 84; co-founder of biotech giant Amgen , latimes.com
  5. ^ Lilly Announces Completion of ICOS Corporation Acquisition - Eli Lilly and Company. In: investor.lilly.com. January 29, 2007, accessed December 30, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Rathmann, George B.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rathmann, George Blatz (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH December 25, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Milwaukee , Wisconsin
DATE OF DEATH April 22, 2012
Place of death Palo Alto , California