ICI Exhibition Booklet - Flipbook - Page 16
Pharmaceuticals: The new division, Alderley Park
‘From time to time I had heard about this fairytale place ICI were building at Alderley Park.’
– Sir James Black, on the new ICI Division est. 1957
The world’s first beta-blockers
‘Jimmy Black’s idea was very imaginative, but more to the point, history was just at the right stage for it. There were some
bits of essential knowledge about, but it required a genius to link them. Black linked them.’
– Garnet Davey, Research Director of the new Pharmaceutical Division
Garnet Davey brought James Black, a University of Glasgow physiologist, to Alderley
Park in 1958 after hearing his thoughts on a new approach to treating angina. Black
postulated reducing the heart’s demand for oxygen, rather than increasing oxygen
supply; by blocking the action of adrenaline. Black’s father had died of a heart
attack following a car crash, leading him to focus on the role of stress – induced by
emotion or exercise – in producing adrenaline and precipitating an attack.
While beginning this work at Alderley Park, Black learned of two key discoveries in
America:
That there were two distinct types of adreontoropic receptors, designated
alpha and beta
A compound, dichloroisoprenaline (DCI), that negated the effects of adrenaline
Black, not a trained chemist, worked with medicinal chemists at Alderley Park in
search of effective derivatives of DCI. The first prototype, ‘Alderlin’ (named for Alderley
Park), found in 1960, was in clinical trials by 1962; it was found to be effective but
with side-effects.
Sir James Black, Picture licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Propranolol, the world’s first ‘beta-blocker’, was in clinical trials by 1964 and launched as ‘Inderal’ in 1965. Inderal and other
beta blockers developed by ICI, such as ‘Tenormin’, are still widely used today – but their most important treatment is now for
hypertension.
Tamoxifen – the first anti-oestrogen drug for cancer therapy
Tamoxifen was discovered by Arthur Walpole at Alderley Park in 1967 while
developing an anti-oestrogen compound for contraceptive. The clinical trials
indicated that it was a complete failure in humans but did, however, show
promise in fighting breast cancer. It had been tested for both based on evidence
at the time that suggested breast cancer growth was stimulated by oestrogen.
Now on the WHO list of essential medicines, Tamoxifen is used to prevent breast
cancer in women as well as for hormone therapy treatments and, occasionally,
for other cancers.
New policy, global investment and Zeneca
As the pharmaceutical division grew at Alderley Park, its early policy of relying on the company’s own research activities was
reversed and it established a network of wholly owned subsidiaries, setting up manufacturing plants in five European countries.
In 1971, ICI acquired Atlas Chemical Industries, gaining direct access to the vast American market, and began a programme of
heavy investment in the USA. By 1993, ICI had demerged its Pharmaceutical and Agrochemical Divisions to form Zeneca (now
AstraZeneca).
Sir James Black was an honorary member of SCI. He was the recipient of the Lister
Medal and delivered the Lister Lecture in 1989 for his work on hormone receptors.
He was awarded the SCI President’s Medal in 1998 for his work in drug
development. This award recognises distinguished figures from whom SCI
has come to learn new perspectives, or who have transformed aspects of the
industries covered by SCI.
Sir Tom McKillop, who became CEO of the newly formed Zeneca in 1994, is
a past President of SCI (2004–2006).