Basel, 28 August 2003 - Professor Alex Matter, MD, the Novartis scientist who spearheaded the discovery of the breakthrough cancer treatment Glivec®* (imatinib), has been named the inaugural director of the new Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD) in Singapore.
Dr. Matter retires this month as worldwide Head of Novartis' Oncology Research and also as Head of the Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research in Basel, a post he has held for the past 15 months. In the late 1990s, after more than a decade of research focused on the role of kinases in cancer, Alex Matter led the team that discovered the Bcr-Abl inhibitor Glivec and helped to bring this groundbreaking treatment for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) to market. As one of the first targeted anti-cancer medicines, Glivec is tailor-made to block the mutant enzyme that causes uncontrolled cell proliferation in CML, without harming healthy surrounding tissue. It represents a new era in the battle against one of the world's biggest killers.
During his distinguished career, Dr. Matter has also led drug discovery programs in the fields of anti-infectives and HIV/AIDS.
"I am really enthusiastic that a scientist of Alex's caliber will lead the NITD", said Professor Paul Herrling, Head of Corporate Research at Novartis and Chairman of the NITD. "His experience and excellence as a drug-discovery scientist greatly enhances the probability that Novartis will soon make new and effective medicines available to those in need. I am looking forward to working with Alex towards the success of NITD".
Novartis and the Singapore government established the Singapore based Institute two years ago. Its staff of approximately 70 scientists will be devoted to the discovery of novel methods of treating and preventing major tropical diseases, focusing initially on dengue fever and drug-resistant tuberculosis. These two diseases afflict over 200 million people worldwide every year. Novartis intends to make treatments discovered at NITD readily available on a non-profit basis in countries where tropical diseases are endemic.
NITD's discovery technology is state-of-the-art and the scope of its activities ranges from target discovery to development of screening technology and compound optimization. The NITD is also a center of excellence that offers teaching and training opportunities for postdoctoral fellows and graduate students in drug-discovery.
Alex Matter joins a strong scientific advisory board made up of Nobel Laureate Professor Sidney Brenner of The Salk Institute in California; Nobel Laureate Professor Rolf Zinkernagel, Head of the Institute of Experimental Immunology at the University in Zurich; Professor Barbara Imperiali of Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge; Professor Duane Gubler of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Fort Collins, Colorado; and Professor Stefan Kaufmann of the MPI for Infection Biology in Berlin.
In addition to his career in industry, Dr. Matter has also held academic positions at the University of Geneva, Harvard Medical School, and the National Institute for Medical Research in Mill Hill, UK. Since 1985, he has been an associate professor of the medical faculty at the University of Basel.
Alexander Kamb, Ph.D., the founder of Arcaris Inc., has been named the new Global Head of Oncology Research at the Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research. Dr. Kamb was a member of the research team at Myriad Genetics Inc. that identified the involvement of the BRCA1 gene in breast cancer.
Novartis AG (NYSE: NVS) is a world leader in pharmaceuticals and consumer health. In 2002, the Group's businesses achieved sales of USD 20.9 billion and a net income of USD 4.7 billion. The Group invested approximately USD 2.8 billion in R&D. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis Group companies employ about 78 200 people and operate in over 140 countries around the world. For further information please consult http://www.novartis.com.
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