Pioneer of the Pill, Dr. George Rosenkranz, Honored At University of Mexico's 450th Anniversary Celebration.

Business Editors/Health & Medical Writers

MEXICO CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 9, 2001

Rosenkranz to Recount the Team Effort That Led to the

Synthesis of the Pill's Key Component 50 Years Ago

Dr. George Rosenkranz, former CEO and Founding Chairman of Syntex Corporation and the pioneering scientist, whose work led to the creation of the birth-control pill, will be honored at the University of Mexico on Thursday, October 11.

"I leave to others any debate about the ultimate worth of the Pill," Dr. Rosenkranz has said of the contraceptive used by 20 million Americans and by more than 300 million women worldwide since its inception. But what the Doctor has put beyond debate is the value of research and teamwork as keys to scientific innovation. "We must never forget that original research is the lifeblood of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry (and) that an interdisciplinary team effort is the indispensable motor of significant research achievement."

Dr. Rosenkranz is accepting the award nearly 50 years to the day of when Dr. Luis Miramontes, Dr. Carl Djerassi and he first synthesized an orally effective synthetic hormone, norethisterone or norethindrone, which made oral contraceptives possible. The discovery took place in a small laboratory at Syntex S.A. in his adopted home of Mexico City.

During his years as chief executive of Syntex - Rosenkranz grew the company to establish subsidiary operations in Canada, England, United States, France, Spain and Belgium. Syntex was sold for $5.3 billion in 1994.

"The Pill was not the result of serendipity...on the contrary it was the result of a long chain of events, with many individuals and team players involved," said Dr. Rosenkranz. "Our scientific creations were as much a triumph of the art of management as they were of intellectual processes."

The University of Mexico will honor Dr. Rosenkranz during the 50th anniversary commemorative symposium on norethisterone or norethindrone at its 450th anniversary celebration. On October 31, Mexico's Ministry of Health will also recognize the doctor's contributions to science.

Dr. Rosenkranz has authored more than 150 publications and is listed on 143 patents, including the patents for cortisone and the main component of the oral contraceptive. Earlier this year he received the Condecoracion Eduardo Liceaga, Mexico's highest award in the health field.

He also received the Mexican National Prize in Pharmaceutical Sciences "Dr. Leopoldo Rio de la Loza" in 1994, and an honorary doctorate from the University of the Americas for his scientific discoveries, contributions to the chemical/pharmaceutical industry and for his development of an outstanding graduate chemistry degree program in Mexico.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION FOR DR.GEORGE ROSENKRANZ

Former Chairman, President and CEO of Syntex Corporation

A pioneer in the development of the oral contraceptive pill, Dr. George Rosenkranz, 85, is one of the founders of the modern steroid industry. He is regarded as a world-class pharmaceutical industry scientist and executive and is credited with building Syntex from a small start-up chemical company into a diversified, global pharmaceutical firm with a market cap in excess of $5 billion.

Dr. Rosenkranz' life took him from war-torn Europe, where he departed in 1941 to Cuba and later Mexico and the United States. Along the way, he helped unleash a sociological revolution in how women control their fertility.

Rosenkranz was born on August 20, 1916 in Budapest, Hungary. After earning a degree in chemical engineering in 1938 and a doctorate in technical sciences in 1940 at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Dr. Rosenkranz began his scientific career in 1940 as a research assistant under Professor Leopold Ruzicka, winner of the Nobel Prize for work in steroid chemistry.

Fleeing World War II Europe, Dr. Rosenkranz landed in Cuba where he became director of research for Cuba's largest pharmaceutical firm. In 1945, he was recruited by Dr. Emeric Somlo, a fellow Hungarian, and Dr. Frederick Lehmann, a young German doctor, to join the fledgling Syntex, which they had founded just one year earlier.

Somlo and Lehmann were interested in Rosenkranz because of his work in steroid chemistry. At the same time, Syntex was in desperate need of Rosenkranz' expertise because Russell Marker, a mercurial chemist from Pennsylvania State University, had left the company and taken with him critical details about how to synthesize progesterone from an inedible Mexican yam root called barbasco, or cabeza de Negro.

When Rosenkranz arrived at Syntex on Oct. 15, 1945 as scientific director, he found the facilities in shambles. Marker had encoded all the substances and intermediates needed in the synthesizing process. In addition, the company, which had been founded a year earlier with an initial capitalization of $100,000, was now operating at a $300,000 loss.

Instead of trying to recapture the process designed by Marker, Rosenkranz relied on his own extensive knowledge of steroids to fill in the missing pieces. Within two months, he had solved the synthesis puzzle and Syntex was back in the progesterone manufacturing business.

Because the University of Mexico had not yet graduated even a single Ph.D. in chemistry, Rosenkranz began to assemble a skilled team through two means: developing and nurturing the expertise of unskilled laborers in his employ and recruiting a powerhouse of world-class researchers to Syntex.

Rosenkranz helped support the creation of an advanced degree program at the National University of Mexico's Instituto de Quimica. The school received financial support from Syntex and students were permitted to fulfill their undergraduate thesis requirement though research they conducted at the company.

For some, this presented the opportunity to publish important findings in leading scientific journals.

Among those Rosenkranz recruited from outside the country were Juan Pataki, a Hungarian trained in Switzerland by Ruzicka; Esteban Kaufmann, a longtime friend and colleague who also was trained by Ruzicka; Carl Djerassi, an Austrian refugee who at 26 year old Austrian who was acquiring professional fame through his prolific writings and research; and Alejandro Zaffaroni, a Uruguayan who had earned an international reputation for his work demonstrating the applicability of paper chromatography to steroids.

After his successful synthesis of progesterone, Rosenkranz put the team to work on producing a full line of hormones. By 1948, Syntex was selling internationally all the natural hormones known to have therapeutic value. In 1950, his researchers had transformed a compound closely related to the male hormone testosterone into estrone, the female hormone.

Rosenkranz' first major success of this period was the discovery of a method to synthesize large quantities of cortisone. The demand worldwide for cortisone for its healing effects on arthritis was enormous, but the cost of its production was enormous because it had to be extracted in minute quantities from animals.

Rosenkranz and his team took on pharmaceutical company giants in a competition that attracted international media attention. In 1951, Syntex won the cortisone race beating competitors, thereby establishing a worldwide reputation in pharmacy and science.

Later in the same year, Luis Miramontes, a graduate student supervised by Rosenkranz and Djerassi, synthesized a super-hormone, norethindrone. Eventually, norethindrone became the active ingredient in birth control pills, which were approved for the commercial market in the early 1960s.

In addition to cortisone and norethindrone, Syntex was able to develop a whole arsenal of steroids to treat inflammatory skin conditions and systemic inflammation. One of its more successful anti-inflammatory products was a non-steroid trade labeled Naprosyn.

Because of these successes, Rosenkranz progressed quickly up the corporate ladder at Syntex, serving as director of research, vice president of research development and production, and executive vice president. In 1956, he was named president and chief executive officer of Syntex Corporation, a position he held until 1980.

He was elected chairman of the board in 1973, a post he held until 1981. At the time of his retirement, he was named to the new honorary post of founding chairman and chairman of the board committee on science.

During his years as chief executive, Syntex expanded internationally, establishing subsidiary operations in Canada, England, the United States and other European countries like France, Spain and Belgium. Later, the company began diversifying its interests into such areas as medical instrumentation, drug control and detection, animal health products, cosmetics, nontoxic pesticides and drug delivery systems.

Dr. Rosenkranz has remained active in business. Currently, he is a member of the Board of Digital Gene Technologies, Inc. a gene expression company in La Jolla, California. At Pherin Pharmaceuticals of CA, Rosenkranz provides expert of guidance on the design and screening of the company's proprietary vomeropherin compounds for the treatment of a variety of important conditions.

He is also president of the advisory Board of ICT Mexicana, a company that helps bring together the interests of science and industry.

Rosenkranz has authored over 150 publications and is listed on 143 patents, including the patent for the main component of the oral birth control pill.

For his chemical genius and business acumen, he has received numerous awards. Earlier this year, Mexican President Vincente Fox awarded Rosenkranz the prestigious Condecoracion Eduardo Liceaga, the highest award Mexico gives in the health field.

He also received the Mexican National Prize in Pharmaceutical Sciences "Dr. Leopoldo Rio de la Loza" in 1994, and an honorary doctorate degree from the University of the Americas for his scientific discoveries, contributions to the chemical/pharmaceutical industry and for developing an outstanding graduate chemistry degree program in Mexico.

Rosenkranz will be honored at the 50th anniversary commemorative symposium of norethisterone or norethindrone at the 450th anniversary celebration of the University of Mexico in October 2001. Mexico's Ministry of Health is recognizing Rosenkranz's contributions to science in October 2001.

He is a member of the New York Academy of Science and the Chemical Societies of the United States and Switzerland; a member of the Board of Governors of the University of Tel Aviv and emeritus member of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovoth, Israel; an honorary fellow of the International College of Dentistry; and an honorary member of the National Academy of Medicine in Mexico.

Rosenkranz speaks six languages and enjoys many hobbies, including tennis, skiing, golf and piano. But his main avocation is bridge. He has authored 14 books on contract bridge and has won 11 U.S. National Bridge Championships and approximately 100 Mexican National Championships. Rosenkranz was inducted into the Bridge Hall of Fame in 2000.

He married Edith Stein in 1945. They have three sons, Roberto, Gerardo, Ricardo, and eight grandchildren.