The UConn Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences Presents a Medicinal Chemistry Seminar
David Price, Ph.D. from Pfizer - “CCR5 Antagonists for HIV Therapy: The Discovery of Maraviroc”
Tuesday, October 13
1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Milton & Rose Kalmanowitz Classroom 129
Pharmacy-Biology Building
David A. Price currently holds the position of senior director of medicinal chemistry in the Cardiovascular, Metabolic and Endocrine Diseases Department within Pfizer Worldwide Research & Development. Price obtained a B.Sc. (First Class Hons.) and Ph.D. from the University of Nottingham, UK, after which he carried out postdoctoral research at Colorado State University with Professor Meyers. This work was directed towards the asymmetric synthesis of azasugars for the potential treatment of HIV. These postdoctoral studies were supported by a research fellowship from the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, one of the most prestigious awards granted to new Ph.D. graduates in the UK. In 1998, Price returned to the UK as a team leader in discovery chemistry with Pfizer. In 2007, he transferred to Pfizer’s research headquarters in Groton, Connecticut to assume a leadership role within the bone research group. He recently relocated to Cambridge, Massachusetts to help lead the diabetes/obesity medicinal chemistry group. During his tenure with Pfizer, Price has worked on projects to develop drugs for a wide variety of diseases including HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, respiratory diseases and, most recently, type II diabetes, contributing to numerous clinical candidates that progressed to man. His most significant achievement has been the discovery of the marketed drug Maraviroc (Selzentry®), which received FDA approval in 2007 for the treatment of HIV infection. Maraviroc is still the only approved CCR5 antagonist for the treatment of HIV.
Price has published over 70 peer reviewed scientific articles and has been an inventor on more than 20 patents. He is the recipient of a number of awards, including the Pfizer Leadership Award (2003), the Salters Jerwood Prize for Most Promising UK Industrial Chemist (2005), the Pfizer Team Award (2006), and the American Chemical Society Heroes of Chemistry Award (2008). Additionally, Maraviroc was awarded the prestigious Prix Galien in 2008 in recognition of the importance of this new treatment for HIV.
For more information, contact: Kyle Hadden at kyle.hadden@uconn.edu