|
Syntex
Laboratorios Syntex SA (later Syntex Laboratories, Inc.) was a pharmaceutical company formed in Mexico City in January 1944 by Russell Marker, Emeric Somlo, and Federico Lehmann to manufacture therapeutic steroids from the Mexican yams called ''cabeza de negro'' (''Dioscorea mexicana'') and ''Barbasco'' (''Dioscorea composita''). The demand for barbasco by Syntex initiated the Mexican barbasco trade. As the American Chemistry Society later explained: “In early 1944, the new Mexican company was chartered and named Syntex, S.A. (‘Synthesis and Mexico’). Russell Marker, shortly thereafter, left Syntex on account of his ruthless cofounder. Luis E. Miramontes, George Rosenkranz and Carl Djerassi's successful synthesis of norethindrone (also known as norethindrone) — which was later proven to be an effective pregnancy inhibitor — led to an infusion of capital into Syntex and the Mexican steroid pharmaceutical industry. George Rosenkranz and Carl Djerassi went on to synthesize ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Rosenkranz
George Rosenkranz (born György Rosenkranz; 20 August 1916 – 23 June 2019) was a pioneering Mexican scientist in the field of steroid chemistry, who used native Mexican plant sources as raw materials. He was born in Hungary, studied in Switzerland and emigrated to the Americas to escape the Nazis, eventually settling in Mexico. At Syntex corporation in Mexico City, Rosenkranz assembled a research group of organic chemists that included future leaders from around the world, such as Carl Djerassi, Luis E. Miramontes and Alejandro Zaffaroni.USA Science & Engineering Festival – Role Models in Science & Engineering Achievement . Retrieved 1 Oct 2014. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carl Djerassi
Carl Djerassi (October 29, 1923 – January 30, 2015) was an Austrian-born Bulgarian-American pharmaceutical chemist, novelist, playwright and co-founder of Djerassi Resident Artists Program with Diane Middlebrook, Diane Wood Middlebrook. He is best known for his contribution to the development of combined oral contraceptive pill, oral contraceptive pills,Ball P (2015) "Carl Djerassi", Nature (journal), Nature 519(7541), 34. nicknamed the "father of the pill". Early life Carl Djerassi was born in Vienna, Austria, but spent the first years of his infancy in Sofia, Bulgaria, the home of his father, Samuel Djerassi, a dermatologist and specialist in sexually transmitted diseases.Weintraub, Bob "Pincus, Djerassi and Oral Contraceptives" ''Chemistry in Israel'', Bulletin of the Israel Chemical Society. August 2005, pp. 47–50. His mother was Alice Friedmann, a Viennese dentist and physician. Both parents were History of the Jews in Europe, Jewish. Following his parents' divorce, Djer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Combined Oral Contraceptive Pill
The combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP), often referred to as the birth control pill or colloquially as "the pill", is a type of birth control that is designed to be taken orally by women. The pill contains two important hormones: progestin (a synthetic form of the hormone progestogen/progesterone) and estrogen (usually ethinylestradiol and 17β estradiol). When taken correctly, it alters the menstrual cycle to eliminate ovulation and prevent pregnancy. COCPs were first approved for contraceptive use in the United States in 1960, and are a very popular form of birth control. They are used by more than 100 million women worldwide and by about 9 million women in the United States. From 2015 to 2017, 12.6% of women aged 15–49 in the US reported using COCPs, making it the second most common method of contraception in this age range (female sterilization is the most common method). Use of COCPs, however, varies widely by country, age, education, and marital status. For exam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russell Marker
Russell Earl Marker (March 12, 1902 – March 3, 1995) was an American chemist who invented the octane rating system when he was working at the Ethyl Corporation. Later in his career, he went on to found a steroid industry in Mexico when he successfully made semisynthetic progesterone from chemical constituents found in Mexican yams in a process known as Marker degradation. This eventually led to the development at Syntex of the combined oral contraceptive pill and synthetic cortisone – and to the development of the Mexican barbasco trade. Biography He was born on March 12, 1902, in Hagerstown, Maryland. He received his B.S. in 1923 from the University of Maryland and an M.S. in physical chemistry in 1924 from the same institution. In 1926, he married Mildred Collins (1899–1985) and worked as an analytical chemist at the Naval Powder Factory in Indian Head, Maryland. He then began work at the Ethyl Corporation where he came up with the concept of the octane rating. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russell Earl Marker
Russell Earl Marker (March 12, 1902 – March 3, 1995) was an American chemist who invented the octane rating system when he was working at the Ethyl Corporation. Later in his career, he went on to found a steroid industry in Mexico when he successfully made semisynthetic progesterone from chemical constituents found in Mexican yams in a process known as Marker degradation. This eventually led to the development at Syntex of the combined oral contraceptive pill and synthetic cortisone – and to the development of the Mexican barbasco trade. Biography He was born on March 12, 1902, in Hagerstown, Maryland. He received his B.S. in 1923 from the University of Maryland and an M.S. in physical chemistry in 1924 from the same institution. In 1926, he married Mildred Collins (1899–1985) and worked as an analytical chemist at the Naval Powder Factory in Indian Head, Maryland. He then began work at the Ethyl Corporation where he came up with the concept of the octane rating. In 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ralph Dorfman
Ralph Isadore Dorfman, (1911 – November 19, 1985) was a Jewish American biochemist. His work on metabolism in pharmacology and the use of steroid hormones contributed to the development of the combined oral contraceptive pill."Dr. Ralph I. Dorfman" '''', December 12, 1985, accessed February 5, 2019 Dorfman was born in Chicago, Illinois.Simoni, Robert D., Robert L. Hill, Martha Vaughan and Herbert Tabor "The Metabolism of Steroid Hormones: Ralph I. Dorfm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hoffmann-La Roche
F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche, is a Swiss multinational healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange. The company headquarters are located in Basel. Roche is the fifth largest pharmaceutical company in the world by revenue, and the leading provider of cancer treatments globally. The company controls the American biotechnology company Genentech, which is a wholly owned affiliate, and the Japanese biotechnology company Chugai Pharmaceuticals, as well as the United States-based companies Ventana and Foundation Medicine. Roche's revenues during fiscal year 2020 were 58.32 billion Swiss francs. Descendants of the founding Hoffmann and Oeri families own slightly over half of the bearer shares with voting rights (a pool of family shareholders 45%, and Maja Oeri a further 5% apart), with Swiss pharma firm Novartis owning a furth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alejandro Zaffaroni
Alejandro Zaffaroni (February 27, 1923 – March 1, 2014) was a Uruguayan serial entrepreneur who was responsible for founding several biotechnology companies in Silicon Valley. Products that he was involved in developing include the birth control pill, the nicotine patch, corticosteroids, and the DNA microarray. Education Zaffaroni was born on February 27, 1923 in Montevideo. Zaffaroni was of Italian descent, as his grandfather migrated from Italy to Uruguay at the age of 16. Both of Zaffaroni's parents passed away early in his life; his mother when he was 12 and his father when he was 18. His father was in the banking business. Zaffaroni received his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of the Republic in 1945, and his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Rochester in 1949. Career Zaffaroni joined Syntex, then a small chemical company in Mexico, as a biochemist in 1951. He participated in turning Syntex into a major multinational pharmaceutical company, movi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mexican Barbasco Trade
The Mexican barbasco trade was the trade of the diosgenin-rich yam species ''Dioscorea mexicana'', '' Dioscorea floribunda'' and ''Dioscorea composita'' which emerged in Mexico in the 1950s as part of the Mexican steroid industry. The trade consisted in Mexican campesinos harvesting the root in the jungle, selling it to middlemen who brought it to processing plants where the root was fermented and the diosgenin extracted and sold to pharmaceutical companies such as Syntex who used it to produce synthetic hormones. History Scientific discovery of medicinal properties The trade started when Russell Marker, a chemist looking for a plant source from which to extract diosgenin and saponin, traveled to Veracruz looking for the yam ''Dioscorea mexicana'' which he suspected might be suitable. He hired two Mexican campesinos to bring him exemplars of the tuber. When he discovered that the root was indeed a significant source of diosgenin he established Syntex, the first Mexican fine che ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norethindrone
Norethisterone, also known as norethindrone and sold under many brand names, is a progestin medication used in birth control pills, menopausal hormone therapy, and for the treatment of gynecological disorders. The medication is available in both low-dose and high-dose formulations and both alone and in combination with an estrogen (medication), estrogen. It is used oral administration, by mouth or, as norethisterone enanthate, by intramuscular injection, injection into muscle. Side effects of norethisterone include menstrual irregularities, headaches, nausea, breast tenderness, mood (psychology), mood changes, acne, hirsutism, increased hair growth.https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2007/018405s023lbl.pdf Norethisterone is a progestin, or a synthetic compound, synthetic progestogen (medication), progestogen, and hence is an agonist of the progesterone receptor, the biological target of progestogens like progesterone. It has weak androgenic and estrogen (medica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Progestin
A progestogen, also referred to as a progestagen, gestagen, or gestogen, is a type of medication which produces effects similar to those of the natural product, natural female sex hormone progesterone in the body. A progestin is a ''synthetic compound, synthetic'' progestogen. Progestogens are used most commonly in hormonal contraception, hormonal birth control and menopausal hormone therapy. They can also be used in the treatment of gynecological conditions, to support fertility and pregnancy, to lower sex hormone levels for various purposes, and for other indications. Progestogens are used alone or in combination with estrogen (medication), estrogens. They are available in a wide variety of drug formulation, formulations and for use by many different route of administration, routes of administration. Examples of progestogens include natural or bioidentical progesterone (medication), progesterone as well as progestins such as medroxyprogesterone acetate and norethisterone. Side ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerzy Rzedowski
Jerzy Rzedowski Rotter (born December 27, 1926) is a Mexican botanist. His focus is on Mexican floristics, taxonomy, and ecology. Education and personal life He was born in Lwów, Poland (now in Ukraine) to Arnold and Ernestyna (nee Rotter) Rzedowski. When he was young the family was imprisoned in a concentration camp until World War II ended, when he and his father were liberated by the Allies. They then travelled to Mexico in 1946 for a new life. He studied for a bachelor's degree in Biology at the Instituto Politecnico Nacional, starting in 1949, and a PhD in Botany at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México awarded in 1961. His bachelor's thesis, on the Flora of the Pedregal de San Angel, (''Vegetación del Pedregal de San Angel, Distrito Federal, Mexico'') and doctoral thesis (''Vegetación del Estado de San Luis Potosi'') led to his scientific research career. In 1954 Rzedowski married Graciela Calderón Díaz-Barriga. Career He worked at Syntex in 1953. From 1954 to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
