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LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Dr. Paul: Views Through the Piperidine Ring

University of Utah Medical Center; Salt Lake City, UT; Theodore.stanley{at}hsc.utah.edu

In Response:

My co-authors and I thank Dr. Domino1 for his kind comments regarding our tribute to Paul Janssen.2 I am sure he is correct in his belief that Dr. Janssen was significantly influenced by the pharmacology lectures of Carl Pfeiffer at the University of Chicago in 1948 (which were accompanied by many chemical formulae and structure-activity relationships).

Dr. Paul was a "consummate" structure-activity pharmacologist who, during my multiple visits to see him in Beerse, Belgium, was always creating new chemical structures on a chalkboard in his office. He did this because he was frequently mentally visualizing new pharmaceutical compounds based on a continually evolving complex picture of how the molecules could best interact with their intended receptors.

Although others might doodle, drawing pictures on a piece of scrap paper during a "boring lecture," he would be busy drawing and re-drawing chemical structures and imagining how they might act after they were consumed by plants, animals or people. When he believed he really had something new and unique, he discussed his thoughts with others of his company’s decision-making team. If his ideas met his and his co-workers’ agreed upon criteria, the compound entered into the complex system which could lead to a new drug.

The respect and admiration held by all those who worked with and/or knew Dr. Paul, from the caretaker cleaning animal cages, to the vice presidents of all the divisions of his company, to the chauffer who drove him to the airport, was remarkable.

REFERENCES

1. Domino EF. Dr. Paul: views through the piperidine ring. Anesth Analg 2008;107:723–4[Free Full Text]
2. Stanley TH, Egan TD, Van Aken H. A tribute to Dr. Paul A. J. Janssen: Entrepreneur extraordinaire, innovative Scientist, and significant contributor to anesthesiology. Anesth Analg 2008;106:451–62[Abstract/Free Full Text]

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