Arthur A. Santilli
Arthur A. Santilli (CAS’51) of Havertown, Pa., writes that he and three former medicinal chemist colleagues received the 2006 Thomas A. Edison Patent Award in Basking Ridge, N.J., from the Research & Development Council of New Jersey, for inventing the antiosteoporosis drug bazedoxifene (BZA). The award, in the category of Emerging Therapies, recognizes inventors with patents containing significant scientific breakthroughs originating in New Jersey. Arthur writes that BZA was launched by Pfizer on the European and Japanese markets as Conbriza and Viviant, respectively. In 2014, the drug was paired with conjugated estrogens and launched in the US market as the prescription drug Duavee and in Europe as Duavive. The paired drug is now prescribed for treating both osteoporosis and moderate to severe hot flashes in postmenopausal women with uteri. Arthur adds that a team of scientists at Duke University found that BZA, which is selectively and potently antiestrogenic in breast tissue, is not only able to stop the growth of estrogen-dependent (E-D) breast cancer cells in both cellular and animal models, but is also effective against cancer cells that are resistant to currently prescribed medications. These results prompted the formation of a clinical study in progress at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Mass., to determine if BZA, when administered in conjunction with Pfizer’s recently marketed (2015) anti–breast cancer drug Ibrance, can further enhance the drug’s efficacy profile for treating patients with E-D breast cancer. Arthur sends his greetings and best regards to all former classmates. He can be reached at artsantilli@comcast.net.
From the Fall 2016 issue.