The “UCB-Ehrlich Award for Excellence in Medicinal Chemistry” was established to acknowledge and recognize outstanding research in the field of Medicinal Chemistry in its broadest sense. The Award is given biennially and consists of a diploma, € 7.500 and an invitation to present a lecture at an EFMC-ISMC symposium. 

Previous recipients were: Prof Peter H. Seeberger in 2008, Dr Bernd Riedl in 2006, Prof Jesper Wengel in 2004 and Dr Jürg Zimmerman in 2002

Prof. Peter H. Seeberger, Laboratory for Organic Chemistry, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zuerich, Switzerland
Winner of the 2008 UCB-Ehrlich Award for Excellence in Medicinal Chemistry

This award is the recognition of Professor Seeberger’s excellent contributions in the fields of automated oligosaccharide synthesis, carbohydrate microarrays and microreactors, synthetic heparin oligosaccharides and synthetic oligosaccharides as vaccine candidates. Remarkably, his research has resulted in the clinical development of compounds for the potential use as Malaria or Anthrax vaccines. The brilliant results achieved by Prof. Seeberger lay the foundations on the vertical integration of his scientifically ambitious program from methods in organic synthesis to applications of oligosaccharides to the prevention of diseases of the developing world.

Dr. Riedl receives this award for his outstanding scientific work leading to the discovery of the raf-kinase inhibitor Sorafenib (Bay-43-9006, Nexavar), the first example of the discovery of a new medicine which combines classical rationale drug discovery approach with the use of new technologies.

The UCB Award for Excellence in Medicinal Chemistry 2004 for Prof. Jesper Wengel

The award was granted to Prof. Jesper Wengel, University of Southern Denmark, on the basis of his outstanding scientific curriculum vitae. In particular, his discovery of Locked Nucleic Acids (LNA) has been highly significant in the field of the discovery of effective antisense oligonucleotides. This discovery has greatly enhanced the chances of a successful development of oligonucleotide-based therapeutic agents.

The Award was presented during the Opening Session of the XVIIIth International Symposium on Medicinal Chemistry, on Sunday, August 15, in Copenhagen, Denmark.

The UCB Award for Excellence in Medicinal Chemistry 2002 for Dr. Jürg Zimmermann, NOVARTIS, Basel, Switzerland

The first "UCB Award for Excellence in Medicinal Chemistry" has been given to Dr. Jürg Zimmermann of Novartis, Switzerland. Dr. Zimmermann received the Award for his fundamental contributions in medicinal chemistry to the discovery and development of Imatinib (Glivec/Gleevec, STI 571), a Protein Kinase Inhibitor and novel treatment for Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. Imatinib is considered as one of the revolutions in the therapeutic treatment of cancer, and could become the therapy of choice. The Jury noted the Excellence in Medicinal Chemistry, combining chemical knowledge with a profound expertise in molecular pharmacology together with rigorous molecular design techniques, which formed the basis of this work.