CONGRATULATIONS to Dr. P. Dan Cook on Receiving the 2022 Derek Horton Award in INDUSTRIAL Chemistry!
Dr. P. Dan Cook, retired after 52 years in drug discovery science, has received the 2022 Derek Horton Award in Industrial Chemistry for his distinguished achievements in and outstanding contributions to industrial carbohydrate chemistry.
Dr. Cook received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 1972 from the University of New Mexico under the direction of R. N. Castle. He undertook a postdoctoral fellowship for one year with R. K. Robins, then joined the staff at ICN Pharmaceuticals Nucleic Acid Research Institute for three years. Dr. Cook spent his industrial career in various drug discovery fields with a focus on oligonucleotide drugs. At Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Company, which was later acquired by Warner-Lamber Pharmaceuticals, he initiated and led the Anti-metabolite Drug Discovery Research Team for a decade. In 1986 he founded and led the first industry antisense oligonucleotides drug discovery program at Eastman Kodak.
He co-founded Isis Pharmaceuticals in 1989 and directed Chemistry research there, as a senior executive, until he founded NuMAX Pharmaceuticals Inc. in 2000. Dr. Cook has participated in the design, synthesis, and pre-clinical product development of a number of anti-viral and anti-cancer drugs, including Ribavirin, Vidaabine (ara-A) and its 5’-phosphate prodrugs, the anti-cancer agents deoxycoformycin (Pentostatin), tiazofurin, selenazofurin, 3-deazaguanine and its metabolites, chorodeoxyadenosine (Cladaribine) and its prodrugs, and trimetrexate (TMQ). Dr. Cook’s Chemistry Research Laboratories at Isis Pharmaceuticals were responsible for the initial syntheses of multiple novel oligonucleotide drug candidates, including the FDA approved drug VitraveneTM. He has authored more than 250 publications and is an inventor/co-inventor of over 350 issued United States patents. He received the M. L. Wolfrom Award from the CARB Division for his service to the division and the field in 2004.
