Nicholas B. Lydon FRS (born 27 February 1957) is a British scientist and entrepreneur. In 2009, he was awarded the Lasker Clinical Award and in 2012 the

Japan Prize is awarded to individuals whose original and outstanding achievements in science and technology are recognized as having advanced the frontiers of knowledge and served the cause of peace and prosperity for mankind. As of 2024, the Japan Prize h ...

for the development of

Gleevec Imatinib, sold under the brand names Gleevec and Glivec (both marketed worldwide by Novartis) among others, is an oral targeted therapy medication used to treat cancer. Imatinib is a small molecule inhibitor targeting multiple tyrosine kinases ...

, also known as Imatinib, a selective BCR-ABL inhibitor for the treatment of

chronic myeloid leukaemia Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), also known as chronic myeloid leukemia, is a cancer of the white blood cells. It is a form of leukemia characterized by the increased and unregulated growth of myeloid cells in the bone marrow and the accumula ...

(CML), which converted a fatal cancer into a manageable chronic condition.

Education

Lydon was educated at

Strathallan School Strathallan School is a private boarding and day school in Scotland for boys and girls aged 5-18. The school has a campus at Forgandenny, a few miles south of Perth. School roll The school has 73 full-time staff, and 18 part-time staff. It h ...

near

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in

biochemistry Biochemistry, or biological chemistry, is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology, a ...

from the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in 1978 and received his PhD in biochemistry from the

University of Dundee The University of Dundee is a public research university based in Dundee, Scotland. It was founded as a university college in 1881 with a donation from the prominent Baxter family of textile manufacturers. The institution was, for most of its ...

, Scotland in 1982.

Career

In 1982, Lydon accepted a position with

Schering-Plough Schering-Plough Corporation was an American pharmaceutical company. It was originally the U.S. subsidiary of the German company Schering AG, which was founded in 1851 by Ernst Christian Friedrich Schering. As a result of nationalization, it becam ...

based in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

as Chargé de Récherche. Three years later, he moved to Switzerland to work with Ciba-Geigy Pharmaceuticals, with whom he developed Gleevec. In 1997, he established Kinetex Pharmaceuticals in Boston which was acquired by

Amgen Amgen Inc. (formerly Applied Molecular Genetics Inc.) is an American multinational biopharmaceutical Corporation, company headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California. As one of the world's largest independent biotechnology companies, Amgen has a ...

in 2000, with whom he worked until 2002. Thereafter, he established several companies that continue to develop drugs to treat various conditions.

Honours and awards

Warren Alpert Foundation Prize The Warren Alpert Foundation Prize is awarded annually to scientist(s) whose scientific achievements have led to the prevention, cure or treatment of human diseases or disorders, and/or whose research constitutes a seminal scientific finding that h ...

, 2000. * Twenty First Annual AACR-Bruce F. Cain Memorial Award, 2002. * Charles F.

Kettering Prize The Charles F. Kettering Prize was a US$250,000 award given by the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation for the most outstanding recent contribution to the diagnosis or treatment of cancer. __TOC__ History The award was named in honor of Ch ...

, General Motors Cancer Research Foundation, 2002. * The Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award, with

Brian Druker Brian J. Druker, M.D. (born April 30, 1955) is a physician-scientist and JELD-WEN Chair of Leukemia Research at Oregon Health & Science University ( OHSU) in Portland, Oregon. He previously served as chief executive officer and director of OHSU's ...

and Charles Sawyers, 2009. * The

, with Brian Druker and Janet Rowley, 2012. *

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

, 2013. * Royal Society GlaxoSmithKline Prize and Lecture, 2014 Lydon's nomination for the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

reads:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lydon, Nicholas 1957 births Living people People educated at Strathallan School Alumni of the University of Leeds Alumni of the University of Dundee British biochemists British cancer researchers British company founders Fellows of the Royal Society Recipients of the Lasker–DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award