Alimta Inventor Donates $1 million to Chemistry Studies
Edward C. Taylor, the inventor of Alimta, which is, so far, the most effective pharmaceutical treatment for mesothelioma, has, along with his wife, donated $1 million for chemistry research at Hamilton College.
Taylor arrived on the Hamilton campus in 1942 to study in the wartime accelerated program and he let the flip of a coin decide whether he should study biology or chemistry. As luck would have it, chemistry won.
More than 60 years later, the student who arrived at Hamilton with dreams of becoming a writer is professor emeritus of chemistry at Princeton University. He is also the inventor of one of the most successful cancer drugs in the world. "I owe my lifelong fascination with chemistry to Hamilton which is why I gave my gift to the chemistry department," he explained.
Alimta, developed in cooperation with Eli Lilly, is approved in 92 countries and is the preferred drug treatment for mesothelioma; it is currently undergoing clinical trials for the treatment of breast, neck, thyroid and head cancer.