Public Invited to Attend National Landmark Ceremony at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum
The American Chemical Society (ACS) has granted prestigious National Historic Chemical Landmark status to the steroid chemistry achievements of Kalamazoo scientists who worked at The Upjohn Company during the years 1950-1990.
KALAMAZOO, Mich., May 8, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The American Chemical Society (ACS) has granted prestigious National Historic Chemical Landmark status to the steroid chemistry achievements of Kalamazoo scientists who worked at The Upjohn Company during the years 1950-1990. "Each Landmark designation represents a pioneering achievement that has contributed to society and the chemical profession," said Alan Rocke, chair of the National Historic Chemical Landmarks (NHCL) Subcommittee. "Upjohn's research in steroid medicines is a prime example, because it enabled the firm to make low-cost, high-quality treatments for debilitating diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. The company's innovations also contributed to the launch of the biotech industry."
The public is invited to attend the Landmark dedication ceremony at 11 a.m. at the Kalamazoo Valley Museum at 230 North Rose Street on Friday, May 17. "The field of chemistry has transformed our lives, from advancing medicine and industry to creating new products such as steroid medicines, penicillin, plastics and more," said Steve Secreast, Kalamazoo ACS Local Section 2018 Chairperson.
"The Kalamazoo Valley Museum is proud to be able to offer a permanent home for the ACS National Historic Chemical Landmark plaque," said KVM Director Bill McElhone. "This historic designation, for one of Kalamazoo's most famous institutions and the ground-breaking work of its scientists, is an important part of the region's history," he said. The plaque will be available for the public to view during regular museum hours.
The ACS established the NHCL program in 1992, to enhance public appreciation for the contribution of chemical sciences to modern life. Under the NHCL program, ACS grants Landmark status to seminal achievements in the history of the chemical sciences and provides a record of these contributions to chemistry and society. To date, 85 Landmark designations have been granted.
These activities are a collaboration among the Kalamazoo ACS Local Section, the ACS NHCL Subcommittee, Apjohn Group LLC, Kalamazoo Valley Museum (KVM), Kalamazoo Valley Community College (Kalamazoo Valley), Western Michigan University (WMU), Kalamazoo College (K-College), Pfizer, Inc., Zoetis, Inc. and local sponsors.
Mention steroids today and many people think of performance-enhancement drugs. Mention steroids in 1949, however, and most people thought of the new major medical breakthrough that one class of steroids, the corticosteroids, could successfully treat debilitating inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis. The discovery that steroid compounds like cortisone and hydrocortisone were safe and effective medicines was welcome news to millions of people suffering from inflammatory diseases. In 1949 those medicines were only available from natural extracts or very lengthy manufacturing processes, making them scarce and prohibitively expensive.
"To make large volumes of the new corticosteroid medicines available at a reasonable cost, The Upjohn Company in Kalamazoo committed to an unprecedented expansion of an already established background in steroid chemistry work in the late 1940s," said Donald R. Parfet, retired Upjohn officer and great grandson of Upjohn Company founder, William E. Upjohn. "In 1950 the company started what became an on-going program of steroid chemistry innovation. The commercial production of beneficial corticosteroids and later general steroid medicines was provided to the world through a continuous string of chemical and microbiological discoveries and inventions by Kalamazoo scientists," he said.
The Upjohn Company was a pharmaceutical manufacturing firm founded in 1886 in Kalamazoo, Michigan by Dr. William E. Upjohn, an 1875 graduate of the University of Michigan medical school. The company was originally formed to make friable pills, which were specifically designed by Upjohn to be easily digested. These could be "reduced to a powder under the thumb", a strong marketing argument at the time.
Upjohn developed a process for the large-scale production of cortisone. The oxygen atom at the 11 position in the molecular structure of this steroid is an absolute requirement for biological activity. However, there are no known natural sources for starting materials that contain that feature. The only method for preparing this drug prior to 1952 was a lengthy synthesis starting from cholic acid isolated from bile. In 1952 Upjohn scientists Durey Peterson and Herbert Murray announced that their development team was able to introduce this crucial oxygen atom by fermentation of the steroid progesterone with a common mold of the genus Rhizopus.
Following on the successful syntheses of cortisone and hydrocortisone, the steroid chemistry work was further advanced to produce improved, later-generation medicines like prednisone and prednisolone. The resulting corticosteroid active ingredients were formulated and analyzed by other Upjohn scientists into steroid medicines and sold to other companies worldwide for use in other medicines.
In 1995 Upjohn merged with Pharmacia AB, to form Pharmacia & Upjohn. In 2000, Pharmacia & Upjohn merged with Monsanto's pharmaceutical operations creating Pharmacia, Inc., and spun-out the agricultural chemical business into a new public entity under the name Monsanto.
In 2003 Pfizer acquired Pharmacia. Pfizer has maintained the large Kalamazoo manufacturing site, which is today the single largest integrated chemical and pharmaceutical site in its portfolio. The Upjohn Company history of innovative research and development is often referenced by the strong pharmaceutical brands it created throughout it's more than 100-year history. Today, society benefits from continuing innovations by Kalamazoo scientists not only at Pfizer but also at nearby companies, like Bridge Organics, Kalexsyn, Kalsec & many others, and local colleges such as K-College, Kalamazoo Valley and WMU.
The museum, located in downtown Kalamazoo on Kalamazoo Valley's Arcadia Commons Campus, provides free general admission and is open to the public seven days a week. The Kalamazoo Valley Museum is operated by Kalamazoo Valley Community College and is governed by its Board of Trustees.
For more information about the American Chemical Society and the Landmark program, visit National Historic Chemical Landmark program, visit http://www.acs.org and http://www.acs.org/landmarks. For a schedule of local events associated with the May 2019 activities visit, http://www.kalamazooacs.org/events/.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Linda Depta, Kalamazoo Valley Community College
ldepta(at)kvcc(dot)edu 269.488.4821
SOURCE Kalamazoo Valley Museum
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