C&EN TALKS WITH SIMON CAMPBELL

Abstract

SIMON CAMPBELL IS WELL-KNOWN as the chemist who initiated the research project that led to the discovery of Viagra—the first oral treatment for male erectile dysfunction. In recent years, he also has become increasingly familiar to a wider audience, particularly in the U.K., as an enthusiastic advocate of chemistry and the prime mover of the Royal Society of Chemistry's (RSC) Campaign for the Chemical Sciences. Campbell joined Pfizer Central Research in Sandwich, England, as a medicinal chemist in 1972. He was a key member of the research teams that discovered the a-adrenergic blocker Cardura, which is used for treating high blood pressure and prostate problems, and the calcium channel blocker Norvasc, which is used to treat high blood pressure and angina. Both of these novel medicines became the leading agents worldwide in their therapeutic class, he says. I'm pleased to be an inventor on the patents for Cardura and Norvasc and the senior author on ...