Bernhard Joos (18 December 1899

Schaffhausen Schaffhausen (; ; ; ; ), historically known in English as Shaffhouse, is a list of towns in Switzerland, town with historic roots, a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in northern Switzerland, and the capital of the canton of Schaffh ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

– 8 June 1990

Paradiso, Switzerland Paradiso is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Lugano (district), district of Lugano in the Ticino, canton of Ticino in Switzerland. It lies on the shore of Lake Lugano and, although administratively independent of the Lugano, c ...

), was the son of Dr. Bernhard Joos and Olga Sturzenegger. He attained a PhD in chemistry at the

University of Zurich The University of Zurich (UZH, ) is a public university, public research university in Zurich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 from the existing colleges of the ...

in 1925, and was an assistant of

Paul Karrer Paul Karrer (21 April 1889 – 18 June 1971) was a Swiss organic chemist best known for his research on vitamins. He and British chemist Norman Haworth won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1937. Biography Early years Karrer was born in Moscow, ...

, who won the

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; ; ) are awards administered by the Nobel Foundation and granted in accordance with the principle of "for the greatest benefit to humankind". The prizes were first awarded in 1901, marking the fifth anniversary of Alfred N ...

in Chemistry in 1937. After a stay in the US, Joos returned to Switzerland in 1932 and started his own laboratory, where he discovered the analgesic properties of

phenazopyridine Phenazopyridine is a medication which, when excreted by the kidneys into the urine, has a local analgesic effect on the urinary tract. It is often used to help with the pain, irritation, or urgency caused by urinary tract infections, surger ...

(later branded as Pyridazil). In 1936 he created the pharmaceutical company

Cilag Cilag AG is a Swiss pharmaceutical company. Cilag is a subsidiary of American pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson. The company is part of Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine business segment. Company history In 1933, Swiss chemist Bernhar ...

(Chemical Industrial Laboratory AG). Within its first few years the new company launched six new pharmaceutical preparations. Joos left the company in 1949, and in 1959 Cilag was acquired by the US company

Johnson & Johnson Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical technologies corporation headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Its common stock is a c ...

. An Australian legal claim filed by him, ''Bernhard Joos vs. Commissioner of Patents'', resulted in a change in British patent law, making medical and cosmetic procedures on the human body patentable.''New Scientist,'' November 30, 1972
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References

Businesspeople in the pharmaceutical industry Swiss pharmacologists 1899 births 1990 deaths {{Switzerland-scientist-stub