Sir James Black (1928-2010), Pioneer in Innovation and Collaboration Saving Lives

The field of medicine and pharmacology this week lost one of its best: Dr. James W. Black, a Scottish pharmacologist whose discovery of beta blockers and another class of drugs extended the lives of millions of people with heart and stomach disorders. His work was so innovative that it earned him a Nobel Prize in 1988. He passed away on Sunday at the age of 85, according to the New York Times.

Dr. Black’s first discovery occurred in the mid-1960s, when he led a team of researchers to develop the first beta-blocker drug, propanolol, which was marketed as Inderal. Then in the 1970s, he subsequently developed, an anti-ulcer drug, cimetidine, marketed as Tagamet. The Times noted that his discoveries “are considered among the most important medical advances in the 20th century, and the drugs have been among the most prescribed in the world.” In fact, his discoveries helped change the practice of cardiology.

As a result, it was his work that not only helped relieve angina pain, but also lowered death rates. His drugs have even been used to treat migraine headaches and anxiety, among other conditions.

Early Career

Dr. Black’s interest in medicine was sparked by his older brother, William, a doctor, who brought home his physiology books one day. His curiosity led James to earning a medical degree from the University of St. Andrews. Since he graduated in “debt and found academic opportunities pitiful,” he went to Singapore, where he was a lecturer in physiology at the University of Malaya from 1947 to 1950.

When he returned to England, he was fortunately appointed director of the University of Glasgow Veterinary School. During his eight years there, “he built the department from scratch while learning how to be an experimenter,” including making some of his own laboratory equipment because he had no formal training in experimental science.

In 1958 he moved to a drug company, which at the time was a “no-no.” Dr. Black noted in an interview in Molecular Interventions, that “If you were a good scientist, you didn’t go into industry.” Had he followed his own words at the time, who knows where science would be today. Certainly, more patients would have died, and many more would have suffered from conditions and diseases that Dr. Black’s discoveries helped to treat.

One of the reasons he moved to the drug industry was to seek a grant from Imperial Chemical Industries to pursue his goal of developing a beta blocker. Accordingly, the company wanted him to work at their new campus instead of his laboratory at the University of Glasgow, which Dr. Black agreed to. Such a decision eventually led to him receiving a Nobel Prize for his work with industry on beta blockers. The Nobel committee acknowledged him as “the first scientist to recognize such an alternative therapeutic strategy for angina.”

His work was also applauded for his ability to “develop drugs through a rational process based on the understanding of basic biochemical and physiological processes, rather than through the way most drugs were developed — through happenstance or the chemical modification of natural products.” It is obvious that such a process would have been close to impossible had it not been for the support of the industry grant he received and the company he worked for.  

Interestingly, “the two scientists with whom he shared the prize, Gertrude B. Elion and George H. Hitchings, who discovered different drugs, also worked for industry.” Clearly then, the superior work of the drug industry to develop medicines and treatments has been recognized for over 50 years.

Industry Work

Although propanolol was created in 1964, it was not approved for use in the United States until 1973. During that time frame, “Dr. Black was head of biological research at Smith, Kline and French.” Continuing his profound work with industry, he also investigated the effects of a natural substance found in the body, histamine, which, among other things, stimulates the secretion of acid in the stomach, a factor in ulcers. As a result of this research, “he came up with cimetidine, or Tagamet.”

While it may have taken 14 years to develop the drug, “cimetidine revolutionized the treatment of ulcers by curbing stomach acidity to permit the healing of ulcers quickly and painlessly. The drug significantly decreased the need for surgery for perforated and bleeding ulcers.” Consequently, Dr. Black then moved his astounding career to head the department of physiology at University College, London in 1973.

In 1976, Dr. Black won a Lasker Award. He again moved in 1978 to direct therapeutic research at the Wellcome Research Laboratory. He was knighted in 1981, and in 1984, he became chairman of the pharmacology department at University College, London, where he stayed until moving to Dundee in 1992. Prior to leaving, he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in the United States in 1991. From 1992 to 2006, he was the chancellor of the University of Dundee in Scotland. In 2000, he was awarded Britain’s Order of Merit, a rare honor bestowed by the Queen.

To think that one man’s work with industry could affect the lives of literally millions of people should encourage the public to think more carefully about relationships the drug industry has with researchers, physicians, and patients. If over fifty years ago, one man could have made so many breakthroughs that have made people healthier and live longer, just think of the kind of work industry support can do for us today and the future. At the very least, Dr. James memory will live on in millions of patients who continue to use the medicine and treatments he helped discover through is work with industry.