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Charon Robin Ganellin | |
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| Born | (1934-01-25)25 January 1934 (age 92) London, England |
| Citizenship | United Kingdom |
| Alma mater | Queen Mary College |
| Known for | Cimetidine |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Medicinal Chemistry |
| Institutions | University College London |
Charon Robin Ganellin (born 25 January 1934) is a British medicinal chemist and emeritus Smith Kline and French Professor of Medicinal Chemistry, atUniversity College London.[1][2]
Ganellin has contributed much to the field of drug discovery and development. He was involved in the development ofcimetidine, a drug used to combat stomach ulcers, when working atSmith Kline and French which he stated was the achievement in which he takes the most pride.[3]
Ganellin was born in east London. His father and maternal uncle were chemists which influenced his choice of profession despite a stated interest in biology and natural history.[3] As a child, Ganellin studied at Harrow County Grammar School.[2] He began his formal studies atQueen Mary College in London where he received his bachelor of science in chemistry.[4] Ganellin continued studying atQueen Mary College researchingtropylium chemistry with Michael J.S. Dewar where he discovered how to isolate the tropylium cation from cyclooctatetraene. Ganellin was awarded his PhD in organic chemistry in 1958 at age 24 for defending his dissertation titled "Studies in the tropylium series."[5]
In 1958, shortly after his PhD studies at Queen Mary College, Ganellin joinedSmith 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 theMassachusetts Institute of Technology where he performed his postdoctoral work with Arthur C. Cope. At MIT, he devised the first direct optical resolution of a chiralolefin 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 withSir James Black researching histamineH2-receptor antagonists. This research eventually led to the discovery ofCimetidine, also known by its trademark name Tagamet which is currently produced by GlaxoSmith Kline. Cimetidine quickly garnered over one billion dollars in annual sales.[6]
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Ganellin has authored or co-authored over 260 scientific papers and is listed as inventor or co-inventor on over 160 US patents.[4] He has served as the president of theIUPAC 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 theRoyal Society of Chemistry, theAmerican Chemical Society, theSociety 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 theItalian Chemical Society.
He was also inducted into the USNational Inventors Hall of Fame in 1990 for his work on cimetidine. Ganellin currently serves as an emeritus professor of medicinal chemistry.
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