Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Asahi Kasei, Dow Chemical, Pfizer, And Procter & Gamble Scientists Honored For Chemical Discoveries

For their exceptional work in discovering and developing antireflective coatings for advanced integrated circuits, a multifunctional toothpaste, a green process for producing polycarbonate, and new treatments for a genetic form of cardiovascular disease and depression-related disorders, scientists from a variety of companies were named this year’s Heroes of Chemistry. They were recognized on Aug. 10 at a formal dinner during the American Chemical Society’s national meeting in San Francisco.

Established in 1996, the ACS Heroes of Chemistry program honors industrial scientists whose work in chemistry and chemical engineering has led to commercially successful products or technologies that benefit humankind.

Each year, an ACS panel selects the Heroes of Chemistry from a pool of chemical scientists nominated by their own companies to recognize their talent, creativity, and innovation. The teams that are honored “illustrate the support and vision of members of corporate management, who invest in science, understand its application, and advocate for it within their organizations,” said ACS President Tom Barton at the event.

Among this year’s heroes are seven scientists from Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) who developed Juxtapid (lomitapide) for the treatment of homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia, an inherited genetic disorder that leads to aggressive and premature cardiovascular disease.

The BMS scientists honored are Scott Biller, former vice president of pharmaceutical candidate optimization at the company, who is now chief scientific officer of Agios Pharmaceuticals; John Dickson, a former group leader at the company who is now principal consultant at AptaChem Consulting; Michael ­Lawrence, a director in discovery chemistry; David Magnin, a former senior research investigator at the company who is now an ­associate professor of chemistry at Morris College; Michael Poss, director of ­“millamolecular” chemistry; Jeffrey Robl, executive director of BMS’s Fibrosis Chemistry Department; and Joseph Tino, a senior principal scientist in discovery chemistry.

BMS donated the drug to the University of Pennsylvania, which then licensed it to Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, which launched the product in 2013. Aegerion expects net sales of Juxtapid to reach approximately $180 million in 2014.

Also recognized as Heroes of Chemistry are 13 scientists from Asahi Kasei who developed a green, phosgene-free method for producing polycarbonate from carbon dioxide. Polycarbonate is used in many everyday applications, including DVDs, smartphones, car headlights, and bottles.

The Asahi Kasei scientists include five at Asahi Kasei Chemicals: Takashi Adachi, a manager of technology in its Technology Licensing Department (TLD); Muneaki Aminaka, a chief researcher; Kazumi Hasegawa, a technical adviser in TLD; Masahiro Tojo, a senior researcher; and Kazuharu Yasuda, general manager of technology in TLD. Others from Asahi Kasei who were named heroes are Isaburo Fukawa, a senior consultant at Asahi Research Center; Shinsuke Fukuoka, a chemical engineer; Mamoru Kawamura, former head of the Planning & Control Department in the Engineering Administration unit who is now retired; Shigenori Konno, president of Asahi Kasei Synthetic Rubber Singapore; Kazuhiko Matsuzaki, former vice president of Chimei-Asahi, head of TLD, and deputy director at Asahi Kasei Chemicals who is now retired; Manabu Oishi, manager in the Overseas Engineering Department & Process Group at Asahi Kasei Engineering; Akio Yamaguchi, a former professional chief engineer and head of the Overseas Business Promoting Department at Asahi Kasei Engineering who is now retired; and Haruyuki Yoneda, former manager of polycarbonate R&D and a former executive officer who is now director of the Division for Start-ups, Research & Innovation Promotion at Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science & Technology.

Asahi Kasei has been manufacturing nonphosgene polycarbonate via its green process since 2012, when it estimates that it captured almost one-quarter of what was then an $8 billion to $9 billion per year market for polycarbonate worldwide.

Thirteen scientists from Dow Chemical were also named Heroes of Chemistry for developing Dow AR Fast-Etch organic bottom antireflectant coatings for the manufacture of advanced integrated circuits. These coatings consist of cross-linkable polymers that are spin-cast on wafers; they control the reflection of light from the wafer surface into the resist material above it. The coatings make it possible to print—via high-resolution microlithography—the thousands of tiny circuit lines needed for mass production of the modern microchip, which powers computers and electronics.

The Dow scientists include many in the company’s Electronic Materials (EM) business: Suzanne Coley, a senior research scientist; associate research chemists Vipul Jain, Doris Kang, and Owendi Ongayi; chemists Amy Kwok and Sabrina Wong; Jim Thackeray, a Dow Fellow; Pete Trefonas, a Dow Corporate Fellow; and Jeong Yun Yu, an associate R&D director. Other Dow heroes include Timothy Adams, a former principal scientist in the EM business who is now a principal engineer at E Ink; Edward Pavelchek, who was a principal scientist at Rohm and Haas before it was acquired by Dow and is now retired; Gerald Wayton, who is now an advanced materials chemist at DuPont Electronic Polymers; and Anthony Zampini, who was a Dow Fellow and is now retired.

Annual sales of Dow AR coatings for 248-nm and 193-nm lithographic processing reached approximately $100 million in 2013.

Five scientists from Pfizer were honored as Heroes of Chemistry for discovering Effexor (venlafaxine), a drug that treats depression, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and social anxiety disorder. Sales of Effexor reached $1.2 billion in 2013.

Those Pfizer heroes are Magid Abou-Gharbia, former senior vice president and head of chemical and screening sciences at Wyeth before it was acquired by Pfizer, who is now the associate dean for research, professor of medicinal chemistry, and director of the Moulder Center for Drug Discovery Research at Temple University; Terrance Andree, a former principal research scientist III and pharmacology discovery team leader for schizophrenia and depression targets at Pfizer who is now retired; G. E. Morris Husbands, a medicinal chemist at Wyeth who is now retired; Eric A. Muth, a global licensing and business development manager who is now a consultant; and John Yardley, former senior director in Wyeth’s Medicinal Chemistry Group who is now retired.

Also recognized as heroes are nine scientists from Procter & Gamble who created Crest Pro-Health, a toothpaste formula that provides eight clinical benefits for oral care. The product is the result of the successful discovery and development of three paste chemistries involving stabilized stannous fluoride, hexametaphosphate, and an associative thickening formulation, which combine to treat dentinal hypersensitivity and prevent cavities, tartar, stain, plaque, gingivitis, bad breath, and dental erosion.

The P&G scientists are Lori Bacca, a technical leader and lab manager within P&G’s Global Engineering Group; Arif Baig, a principal scientist in oral care upstream technology and formulation development; Bill Glandorf, a research fellow; Tao He, a principal clinical scientist; Iain Hughes, associate director for oral care technology development; Satya Majeti, a retired research fellow who is now a technology consultant; Ross Strand, a research fellow; Xiaoli Wang, a principal scientist; and Donald White, a research fellow.

After Crest Pro-Health was launched in 2006, North American sales of all Crest products combined soared to a record high, making the brand the market leader for the first time since 1997.

The advances made possible by the work of this year’s Heroes of Chemistry “have saved or improved lives around the world,” Barton said. These innovations “embody the ACS vision: ‘improving people’s lives through the transforming power of chemistry.’ It is a source of great pride to us at ACS that in each of these instances, fundamental science has been applied in a way to benefit all.”

Nominations for the 2015 Heroes of Chemistry awards are now being accepted. Visit www.acs.org/heroes for further information.