Sir James Black
- Born
- 14 June 1924
- Died
- 22 March 2010 (age 85)
Sir James Black made some of the most important contributions to pharmacology in the twentieth century. He developed life changing treatments as well as pioneering a new model of drug design which is now routinely used in the pharmaceutical industry. His work has been widely recognised and in 1988 he won the Nobel Prize for his contribution to pharmacology.
Sir James was born in Lanarkshire in 1924, one of five sons of a mining engineer. His family did not have the funds for him to go to university, but his maths teacher encouraged him to sit an entrance exam at the University of St Andrews. As a result of this, he was awarded a residential scholarship to study medicine.
After he graduated, he decided to follow a career in physiology research instead of medicine, and took up posts at St Andrews and King Edward VII College of Medicine in Singapore before establishing the physiology department at the University of Glasgow.
His work in physiology later led him to work for the pharmaceutical firm ICI where he developed Propranolol, a betablocker that can treat tremors, heart rhythm and circulatory disorders and prevent heart attacks. His discovery was said to be one of the most important breakthroughs in the treatment of cardiac conditions since the 18th century and it soon became the best selling prescription drug in the world.
Sir James went on develop a second drug, Cimetidine, which is used to treat stomach ulcers. Before this drug was available the only option for those with stomach ulcers was surgical intervention.
Sir James was not just recognised for the drugs themselves, but the way in which he developed them. He pioneered what we call rational drug design. Previously, drug companies had used a trial and error method, testing the effects of known chemicals on animal tissue and matching this to therapeutic uses. With rational drug design, Sir James and his associates started by looking at the disease or disorder and designing a drug to target a specific problem. This approach proved successful and has been used to develop treatments for many diseases.
In 1988 Sir James shared the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine with pharmacologists George Hitchings and Gertrude Elion. The prize was awarded for their discoveries of important principles for drug treatment. He was also given the Order of Merit from the Queen in 2000.
In his later life he became chancellor of the University of Dundee where a medical research facility was named after him.