Name Bruce Roth | Role Chemist | |
Bruce D. Roth (b. Jun 1954) is an American chemist who invented atorvastatin, better known as Lipitor, which has become the largest-selling drug in pharmaceutical history.
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Education
Roth received his bachelor's degree from St. Joseph's College, Philadelphia, in 1976. He then went to Iowa State University as a doctoral student under George Kraus. After receiving his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Iowa State University in 1981, he spent a year as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Rochester.
Career
In 1982 28-year-old Roth was hired by Warner-Lambert. He was promoted to Senior Scientist in 1984. In 1985 he was at Warner-Lambert's Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Research facility in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
He was promoted to Research Associate in 1986, Senior Research Associate in 1988, Section Director in 1990, Director of Atherosclerosis and Exploratory Chemistry in 1992, and Senior Director of Atherosclerosis, Inflammation and Exploratory Chemistry in 1993. By the early 1990s he held managerial positions and was no longer doing laboratory work. In 2000 Warner-Lambert acquired Parke-Davis. He was appointed Vice President of Chemistry just prior to the merger between Warner-Lambert and Pfizer in 2000 and remained in that role as a part of Pfizer Global Research and Development in Ann Arbor, Michigan until 2007. He then joined Genentech in San Francisco, California as Vice President of Discovery Chemistry.
Before atorvastatin, Roth worked to develop a different drug, but Sandoz AG beat his team to a patent.
Atorvastatin
In 1985 while working at Warner-Lambert's Parke-Davis research facility, Roth "identified a molecule" that inhibited HMG CoA reductase, a "key enzyme in the metabolic pathway the body uses to produce cholesterol."
Roth was listed as the inventor of Trans-6-[2-(3- or 4-carboxamido-substituted pyrrol-1-yl)alkyl]-4-hydroxypyran-2-one that was patented in 1986. It was transformed "into a viable drug, atorvastatin and sold under the brand name Lipitor." Pfizer acquired Warner-Lambert and Lipitor in 2000.
For the discovery, Roth received the 1997 Warner-Lambert Chairman's Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award, the 1999 Inventor of the Year Award from the New York Intellectual Property Law Association, the 2003 American Chemical Society Award for Creative Invention, the 2003 Gustavus John Esselen Award for Chemistry in the Public Service, the 2005 Iowa State University Distinguished Alumni Award, and the 2006 Pfizer Global Research and Development Achievement Award. Roth was named a 2008 Hero of Chemistry by the American Chemical Society. He also received the
Genentech
According to the Chemical Heritage Foundation, in "addition to his discovery of atorvastatin, Roth is the inventor or co-inventor of 42 patents and the author or co-author of 48 manuscripts, 35 published abstracts and eight book chapters." From 1996 until 2007, he served as an adjunct professor in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Michigan.
Personal life
He and his wife, Michelle, have four children: David, Sarah, Rebecca and Aaron. David Roth was married on July 31, 2010, to Alyssa Roth, formerly Alyssa Dipzinski.