Gertrude Elion: Rational Drug Design

Gertrude Elion could not fund a doctorate when doors were closed to women and built a research career at Burroughs Wellcome instead. She designed drugs by rational targets rather than trial and error, including the first antiviral and the transplant drug azathioprine. Her purine chemistry also led to leukemia treatments and the first AIDS drug AZT. The 1988 Nobel Prize crowned a life of method over luck..

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