Top Euro award for British inventor
Updated on 23 April 2007
A British scientist whose work led to a drug that helps millions of people with inflammation has won a top prize at the European Inventor of the Year awards.
Professor Marc Feldmann, from Imperial College London, discovered the inflammation role played by cytokine signalling molecules in autoimmune diseases.
His team went on to develop an antibody-based treatment that blocks the production of cytokines involved in inflammation. Millions of patients around the world have been successfully treated with the antibody, registered as the drug Infliximab.
He was presented with a lifetime achievement award by the EU Commission and European Patent Office (EPO) at the ceremony in Munich, Germany.
Gunter Verheugen, EU Commissioner for Enterprise and Industry, said: "All award winners came up with pioneering inventions which are evidence of Europe's innovative strength, which is the basis of Europe's competitiveness."
Other awards went to Dr Franz Larmer and Andrea Urban from Germany for their work on sensor technology and development of the life-saving airbag, Dr Catia Bastoli from Italy for inventing biodegradable plastics obtained from starch, and US scientist Dr Joseph Vacca for inventing Crixivan, a protease inhibitor which has revolutionised HIV treatment.
Mr Feldmann beat another Briton, Sir Alec Jeffreys, who laid the foundations of DNA fingerprinting, to the title. Sir Alec, of the University of Leicester, was only 27 when he made the breakthrough in 1977 that was to revolutionise criminal investigations and paternity lawsuits. He made the key discovery that no two strands of DNA are completely alike.
The systematic screening of human DNA, using saliva samples, was carried out for the first time in 1983 as part of a criminal investigation after the murder of two girls in Narborough, Leicestershire.
Since then DNA fingerprinting has been used by police forces around the world with great success. Sir Alec, a keen defender of civil rights, has spoken out against the excessive use of DNA by law enforcement agencies.
He proposes the creation of an independent agency for storing and securing sensitive DNA data. All inventions for which the European Patent Office granted patents were eligible for consideration.
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