Nicholas Lydon


Nicholas B. Lydon FRS is a British scientist and entrepreneur. In 2009, he was awarded the Lasker Clinical Award and in 2012 the Japan Prize for the development of Gleevec, also known as Imatinib, a selective BCR-ABL inhibitor for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukaemia, which converted a fatal cancer into a manageable chronic condition.

Education

Lydon was educated at Strathallan School near Perth, Scotland. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry from the University of Leeds, England in 1978 and received his PhD in biochemistry from the University of Dundee, Scotland in 1982.

Career

In 1982, Lydon accepted a position with Schering-Plough based in France as Charge de Recherche. Three years later, he moved to Switzerland to work with Ciba-Geigy Pharmaceuticals, with whom he developed Gleevec. In 1997, he established Kinetex Pharmaceuticals in Boston which was acquired by Amgen in 2000, with whom he worked until 2002. Thereafter, he established several companies that continue to develop drugs to treat various conditions.

Honours and awards

Lydon's nomination for the Royal Society reads: