The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1988
Awarded on: 1988-10-17
"for their discoveries of important principles for drug treatment"
Affiliations:
- Wellcome Research Laboratories – Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
Gertrude B. Elion
Born: 1918-01-23 in New York, NY, USA
Gender: female
Field: American biochemist and pharmacologist (1918–1999)
Biography
Gertrude "Trudy" Belle Elion was an American biochemist and pharmacologist, who shared the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with George H. Hitchings and Sir James Black for their use of innovative methods of rational drug design for the development of new drugs. This new method focused on understanding the target of the drug rather than simply using trial-and-error. Her work led to the creation of the anti-retroviral drug AZT, which was the first drug widely used against AIDS. Her well known works also include the development of the first immunosuppressive drug, azathioprine, used to fight rejection in organ transplants, and the first successful antiviral drug, acyclovir (ACV), used in the treatment of herpes infection.