George H. Hitchings

Facts

George H. Hitchings

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George H. Hitchings
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1988

Born: 18 April 1905, Hoquiam, WA, USA

Died: 27 February 1998, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

Affiliation at the time of the award: Wellcome Research Laboratories, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA

Prize motivation: "for their discoveries of important principles for drug treatment."

Prize share: 1/3

Work

George Hitchings and Gertrude Elion's research revolutionized both the development of new pharmaceuticals and the field of medicine in general. Previously, pharmaceuticals had primarily been produced from natural substances. During the 1950s, George Hitchings and Gertrude Elion developed a systematic method for producing drugs based on knowledge of biochemistry and diseases. One of the first drugs produced by the pair was for leukemia and helped many children with the disease to survive. Other drugs they created have been used to fight malaria, infections, and gout, as well as help with organ transplantations.

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