Paul Janssen
 Paul Janssen    (physician, businessman) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 12 September 1926 Turnhout, Belgium |
| Died | 11 November 2003 (Age 77) Rome, Italy |
| Nationality | Belgian |
| Alma mater | Université de Namur, Catholic University of Louvain, Ghent University, University of Cologne |
Belgian businessman who founded Janssen Pharmaceutica, which became a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson in 1961 | |
Paul Adriaan Jan, Baron Janssen was a Belgian physician. He was the founder of Janssen Pharmaceutica, a pharmaceutical company with over 20,000 employees[1] which has been a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson since 1961.
Background
Paul Janssen was the son of Constant Janssen and Margriet Fleerackers.
He attended secondary school at the Jesuit St Jozef college in Turnhout, after which he decided to follow in his father's footsteps and become a physician. During World War II, Janssen studied physics, biology and chemistry at the Facultés universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix (FUNDP) in Namur. He then studied medicine at the Catholic University of Leuven and Ghent University. In 1951, Janssen received his medical degree magna cum laude from Ghent University.[2] He also obtained a postdoctoral degree in pharmacology at the same university in 1956, and studied at the Institute of Pharmacology of the University of Cologne.[3]
On 16 April 1957, he married Dora Arts.
Career
During his military service and until 1952, he worked at the Institute of Pharmacology of the University of Cologne. After he returned to Belgium, he worked part time at the University of Ghent Institute of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, headed by Corneille Heymans, who had won the Nobel Prize for medicine in 1938. With a loan of fifty thousand Belgian francs received from his father, Janssen founded his own research laboratory in 1953. That same year, he discovered ambucetamide, an antispasmodic found to be particularly effective for the relief of menstrual pain.[4]
In 1956, Janssen received his habilitation in pharmacology with pro venia legendi ("permission to lecture") designation for his thesis on Compounds of the R 79 type. He left the university and established what would become Janssen Pharmaceutica.
On 11 February 1958 he developed haloperidol, a major breakthrough in the treatment of schizophrenia.[5] Together with his team, he developed the fentanyl family of drugs and a number of anesthetic agents, including droperidol and etomidate.[6] One of the anti-diarrheal drugs he developed, diphenoxylate (Lomotil), was used in the Apollo program.[7][8]
In 1985, Janssen Pharmaceutical became the first Western pharmaceutical company to establish a factory in the People's Republic of China (Xi'an).[9] In 1995, together with Paul Lewi, he founded the Center for Molecular Design, where he and his team[10] used a supercomputer to search candidate molecules for potential AIDS treatments.[11][12]
Altogether Janssen and his cadre of scientists discovered more than eighty new medications, four of which are on the WHO list of essential medicines.
In 1991, he was elevated to the Belgian nobility by King Baudouin and received the title of Baron.[citation needed]
Death
Janssen died in Rome, Italy, in 2003, while attending the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the founding of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, of which he had been a member since 1990.[13]
Popularity polls
- In 2005 he finished as runner up, after Father Damien, in the poll for The Greatest Belgian organized by the regional Flemish television.[14]
- On Wednesday 22 October 2008, Paul Janssen was awarded the title of Most Important Belgian Scientist, an initiative of the Eos magazine.[15]
Event Participated in
| Event | Start | End | Location(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilderberg/1972 | 21 April 1972 | 23 April 1972 | Belgium Hotel La Reserve Knokke | The 21st Bilderberg, 102 guests. It spawned the Trilateral Commission. |
References
- ↑ Paul Lewi, Obituary of Dr Paul Janssen (1926–2003), Drug Discovery Today, Volume 9, Issue 10, 15 May 2004, Pages 432–433
- ↑ Dr. Paul Janssen, 77, Dies; Founder of a Drug Company - website of the newspaper The New York Times
- ↑ Dr. Paul Janssen, 77; Founded International Pharmaceutical Firm - website of the newspaper LA Times
- ↑ I. Oransky, Paul Janssen, The Lancet, Volume 363, Issue 9404, Pages 251–251
- ↑ B. Granger, S. Albu, The Haloperidol Story, Annals of Clinical Psychiatry (after 1 January 2004), Volume 17, Number 3, Number 3/July–September 2005, pp. 137–140(4)
- ↑ http://www.anesthesia-analgesia.org/content/106/2/451.full.pdf
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20120223171440/http://lsda.jsc.nasa.gov/books/apollo/S2ch1.htm
- ↑ https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_18-42_Apollo_Medical_Kits.htm
- ↑ Magiels G, Paul Janssen. Pionier in farma en in China, Houtekiet, 2005
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20090731142938/http://www.molmo.be/
- ↑ Yven Van Herrewege, Guido Vanham, Jo Michiels, Katrien Fransen, Luc Kestens, Koen Andries, Paul Janssen, and Paul Lewi, A Series of Diaryltriazines and Diarylpyrimidines Are Highly Potent Nonnucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors with Possible Applications as Microbicides, Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2004 October; 48(10): 3684–3689
- ↑ https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/08/020820073357.htm
- ↑ http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v29/n8/full/1300423a.html |
- ↑ http://www.standaard.be/kanaal/index.aspx?kanaalid=5
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20120220101702/http://picture.belga.be/belgapicture/picture/10928644.html?citemId=735644-1
