Philip Needleman is an American pharmacologist and academic. Needleman was a professor and associate dean at the

Washington University School of Medicine Washington University School of Medicine (WUSM) is the medical school of Washington University in St. Louis in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1891, the School of Medicine has 1,260 students, 604 of which are pursuing a medical degree with or ...

and he served as an executive at

Monsanto The Monsanto Company () was an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation founded in 1901 and headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto's best known product is Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, developed in th ...

Searle Searle may refer to: __NOTOC__ Persons * Searle (surname) * J. Searle Dawley (1877–1949), American film director, producer, screenwriter, stage actor and playwright * Searle Turton (born 1979), Canadian politician Places * Serle, a comune in Lomb ...

. He is credited with discovering the first

thromboxane synthase inhibitor Thromboxane A synthase 1 (, platelet, cytochrome P450, family 5, subfamily A), also known as TBXAS1, is a cytochrome P450 enzyme that, in humans, is encoded by the ''TBXAS1'' gene. Function This gene encodes a member of the cytochrome P450 supe ...

, the inflammatory substance known as

COX-2 Prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase 2 (prostaglandin G/H synthase and cyclooxygenase) (The HUGO official symbol is PTGS2; HGNC ID, HGNC:9605), also known as cyclooxygenase-2 or COX-2, is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ''PTGS2'' gene. ...

and the cardiac hormone known as

atriopeptin Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) or atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) is a natriuretic peptide hormone secreted from the cardiac atria that in humans is encoded by the NPPA gene. Natriuretic peptides (ANP, BNP, and CNP) are a family of hormone/pa ...

. Needleman is a member of the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

and a Fellow of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

Biography

Needleman attended the

Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Science Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, where he earned an undergraduate degree and a master's degree, both in pharmacology. He subsequently studied at the

University of Maryland School of Medicine The University of Maryland School of Medicine (abbreviated UMSOM), located in Baltimore City, Maryland, U.S., is the medical school of the University of Maryland, Baltimore and is affiliated with the University of Maryland Medical Center and Me ...

and received a doctoral degree in pharmacology. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the

, remaining there as a faculty member. He became a full professor and he chaired the pharmacology department from 1976 to 1989. In 1989 left academia for industry and became vice president of

. In 1993 he became president of

. There he oversaw research into

that led to the development of the anti-inflammatory drug

celecoxib Celecoxib, sold under the brand name Celebrex among others, is a COX-2 inhibitor and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). It is used to treat the pain and inflammation in osteoarthritis, acute pain in adults, rheumatoid arthritis, ankyl ...

(Celebrex), which was approved in 1998 by the

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...

(FDA). He became senior executive vice president and chief scientist of

Pharmacia Pharmacia was a pharmaceutical and biotechnological company in Sweden that merged with the American pharmaceutical company Upjohn in 1995. History Pharmacia company was founded in 1911 in Stockholm, Sweden by pharmacist Gustav Felix Grönfeldt ...

from 2000 to 2003. He returned to academia as an associate dean at the Washington University School of Medicine in 2004 and was subsequently named to the school's board of trustees. He served as interim president of two institutions, the

Donald Danforth Plant Science Center The Donald Danforth Plant Science Center is an independent, not-for-profit research institute dedicated to plant science located in the Creve Coeur community of Saint Louis County, Missouri, United States. It was founded in 1998 by William Henry ...

and the

Saint Louis Science Center The Saint Louis Science Center, founded as a planetarium in 1963, is a collection of buildings including a science museum and planetarium in St. Louis, Missouri, on the southeastern corner of Forest Park. With over 750 exhibits in a complex of ov ...

. Needleman was elected to the

in 1987 in the physiology and pharmacology section. He received the

NAS Award for the Industrial Application of Science The NAS Award for the Industrial Application of Science is awarded by the U.S. United States National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences "for original scientific work of intrinsic scientific importance and with significant, beneficia ...

in 2005 for his work on "metabolism of arachidonic acid in physiology and pathophysiology, which generates prostacyclin and thromboxane."NAS Award for the Industrial Application of Science
National Academy of Sciences web site He was named a fellow of the

in 2015.

References

External links

National Academy of Sciences profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Needleman, Philip Living people American pharmacologists University of Maryland School of Medicine alumni University of the Sciences alumni Monsanto employees Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the National Academy of Medicine Pharmaceutical scientists Year of birth missing (living people) Washington University in St. Louis fellows Washington University School of Medicine faculty