Lloyd Hillyard Conover (June 13, 1923 – March 11, 2017) was an American chemist and the inventor of

tetracycline Tetracycline, sold under various brand names, is an oral antibiotic in the tetracyclines family of medications, used to treat a number of infections, including acne, cholera, brucellosis, plague, malaria, and syphilis. Common side effects ...

. For this invention, he was inducted into the

National Inventors Hall of Fame The National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) is an American not-for-profit organization, founded in 1973, which recognizes individual engineers and inventors who hold a U.S. patent of significant technology. Besides the Hall of Fame, it also oper ...

. Conover was the first to make an antibiotic by chemically modifying a naturally produced drug."Lloyd Hillyard Conover." American Men & Women of Science: A Biographical Directory of Today's Leaders in Physical, Biological, and Related Sciences. Detroit: Gale, 2008. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 19 Nov. 2011. He had close to 300 patents to his name.

Career

In 1941, Conover began studying chemistry at Amherst College, but his studies were interrupted by World War II. He then joined the Navy, serving three years in the Pacific on an amphibious

landing ship An amphibious warfare ship (or amphib) is an amphibious vehicle warship employed to land and support ground forces, such as marines, on enemy territory during an amphibious assault. Specialized shipping can be divided into two types, most crud ...

, ultimately rising to the rank of lieutenant junior grade. After the war, he returned to Amherst, receiving his B.A. degree in 1947. He went on to earn his

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is a ...

in chemistry from the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants Undergraduate education, undergraduate and graduate degrees, including Doctorate, do ...

in 1950. Upon completion of his studies, Conover joined

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfize ...

's chemical research department. He was part of a team exploring the molecular architecture of the broad-spectrum antibiotics Terramycin and Aureomycin. Both of these drugs had been discovered as

natural product A natural product is a natural compound or substance produced by a living organism—that is, found in nature. In the broadest sense, natural products include any substance produced by life. Natural products can also be prepared by chemical sy ...

s produced by

actinomycetes The Actinomycetales is an order of Actinomycetota. A member of the order is often called an actinomycete. Actinomycetales are generally gram-positive and anaerobic and have mycelia in a filamentous and branching growth pattern. Some actinomycete ...

. Working in conjunction with Harvard Professor R.B. Woodward, the team began to recognize that it was possible to chemically alter an antibiotic to produce other antibiotics that were effective in treating various types of illnesses. In 1952, he developed

in this way. Specifically, he was able to produce tetracycline by dechlorinating Aureomycin by catalytic reduction, that is, by substituting hydrogen for chlorine in chlortetracycline. His success led to the process being used to produce other superior structurally modified antibiotics. This is a standard practice in the industry today. Conover applied for a patent on tetracycline in 1953, and one was granted in 1955. Within three years, tetracycline became the most prescribed broad spectrum antibiotic in the U.S. During this time, the patent was challenged. In 1982, the courts upheld the patent and the right of scientists to patent based on similar methods.676 F.2d 51 216 U.S.P.Q. 1056, 1982-1 Trade Cases 64,578 In re COORDINATED PRETRIAL PROCEEDINGS IN ANTIBIOTIC ANTITRUST ACTIONS.Appeal of UNITED STATES of America.UNITED STATES of America, Appellant,v. PFIZER INC., American Cyanamid Company, Bristol-Myers Company, Olin Corporation, Squibb, Inc., E. R.Squibb & Sons, Inc., and The Upjohn Company. Nos. 81-1067, 81-1068.United States Court of Appeals,Third Circuit. Argued Feb. 1, 1982. Decided Feb. 16, 1982. Retrieved June 8, 2011. http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F2/676/676.F2d.51.81-1068.81-1067.html In 1971, Conover became research director at Pfizer Central Research in Sandwich, England. In 1984, he retired as a senior vice president. Conover died in St. Petersburg, Florida, at the age of 93.

References

External links

Lloyd Conover
at the

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conover, Lloyd 1923 births 2017 deaths 20th-century American inventors Amherst College alumni People from Orange, New Jersey American chemists