Gertrude Belle Elion

• Born: January 23, 1918
• Birthplace: New York, New York
• Died: February 21, 1999
• Place of death: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Biochemist

Elion set the standard for the development of drugs, using a logical rather than trial-and-error method. A Nobel Prize winner, Elion developed medications that were effective in battling viruses and cancer and in aiding the success of organ transplants.

Areas of achievement: Medicine; science and technology

Early Life

Gertrude Belle Elion (GUR-trewd behl EHL-ee-ohn) was born to Robert and Clara Cohen Elion. Her mother immigrated to the United States from what is now Poland at age fourteen. Her father emigrated from Lithuania at age twelve. He came from a line of rabbis that could be traced back for twelve hundred years. He worked in a drugstore until he graduated from the New York City College of Dentistry. For Elion’s first seven years, the family lived in an apartment adjoining her father’s dental office. When Elion was three, her grandfather immigrated from Russia; he and Elion became close. When Elion was six, her brother, Herbert, was born, and, soon afterward, the family moved to the Bronx. Elion attended public school and did well academically in many subjects. By skipping two grades, she graduated at age fifteen. That summer, her beloved grandfather died of cancer. She had a desire to cure that horrible disease, so she chose to major in chemistry at Hunter College. Graduating magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1937, Elion applied to fifteen universities. None offered her the necessary financial aid, and jobs were hard to find. She spent six months in secretarial school, and then she taught biochemistry for three months at the New York Hospital School of Nursing. Not finding another job, she volunteered to work for a chemist without pay to get experience. When she quit, after a year and a half, she was getting $20 a week and had saved $450. Her savings paid for one year in graduate school at New York University. She earned money for meals and cab fare by working half time as a doctor’s receptionist. After finishing her class work, she taught school as a substitute teacher; her research had to be done at night and on weekends. She received her master’s degree in chemistry in 1941. She met the love of her life, Leonard Canter, after college. They were planning to marry, but he died of a bacterial infection in 1941.This was a second loved one Elion had lost to disease. She never married.

Life’s Work

In 1942, so many men had entered the armed services to serve in World War II that Elion got a job usually reserved for men in a laboratory. She first worked for A&P Grocery, where she learned about instrumentation in testing food products. In 1944, she interviewed at Burroughs Wellcome with George Hitchings. He was fascinated with her intelligence and her enthusiasm, and he hired Elion. She worked for the company for thirty-nine years.

Hitchings had a plan to develop drugs to cure diseases. Each member of the research group took a set of compounds to make and to test. Elion was given the purines. She began to make compounds similar to the purines, which were then tested to see how the compounds affected the growth of the disease cells. Elion worked long hours. She also wanted to know how the compounds worked in the body. She suggested that they study the metabolism of the compounds. The first major breakthrough came in 1950. She developed diaminopurine, which was effective against cancer; however, it caused vomiting. After trying more than one hundred purine compounds, she made 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP), which was effective but only temporarily. It was discovered that a combination of 6-MP or another of Elion’s compounds, thioguanine, combined with other drugs would produce remission of leukemia in children. From 1944 to 1946, Elion attended graduate school at night at Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute. In 1946, she was told that she had to quit her job and attend full time. She loved her job too much to quit. The positive results in 1950 helped her to understand that she could do what she wanted without a Ph.D. However, her promising results did not protect her from tragedy. In 1956, Elion’s mother died of cervical cancer. Like the death of her grandfather and her fiancé, the death of her mother caused her to work more hours to develop new drugs. In 1952, Elion produced pyrimethamine (Daraprim), a treatment for malaria. In the late 1950’s, trimethoprim (Proloprim, Trimpex) was produced to treat bacterial infections. Another drug, azathioprine (Imuran), suppressed the immune system and allowed kidney and heart transplants. Allopurinol (Zyloprim) was developed in 1963. It suppresses the production of uric acid, the cause of gout, and is an effective treatment for leishmaniasis disease and for Chagas disease.

When Hitchings retired in 1967, Elion was made head of the department of experimental therapy. Her first honorary doctorate was awarded by George Washington University in 1969. Burroughs Wellcome moved to Research Triangle Park in North Carolina in 1970, and in 1995 the research group had grown to fifteen hundred people and merged with Glaxo. In North Carolina, Elion focused her research on attacking viruses. In 1977, she produced acyclovir (Zovirax), which is effective against viral infections. Elion retired to be a consultant and a part of the research faculty at Duke University and the University of North Carolina in 1983. In 1984, her former laboratory developed azidothymidine (AZT) using her methods. It was the first effective treatment for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Among the many awards given to Elion, in 1988 she and Hitchings were awarded the Nobel Prize. On February 21, 1999, Elion collapsed during a walk and died that evening.

Significance

Elion developed the method of research and the medicines to treat malaria, leukemia, gout, meningitis, septicemia, bacterial infections, and viral herpes. Organ transplants are possible because she developed a drug to suppress the immune system. She also produced a drug, ayclovir, to protect patients with damaged immune systems from herpes viral infection. Acyclovir (Zovirax) is effective against shingles, herpes encephalitis, Epstein-Barr virus, and mouth and genital herpes sores. Before 6-MP and thioguanine, half of the children with leukemia died in less than four months. With 6-MP and thioguanine, eighty percent of cases are completely cured. Her effect is worldwide. Leishmaniasis disease occurs in the Middle East and North Africa, and Chagas disease is spread by insect bite and occurs in Central and South America. Her pioneering research methods have saved thousands of lives.

Bibliography

MacBane-Stephens, Jennifer. Gertrude Elion: Nobel Prize Winner in Physiology and Medicine. New York: Rosen, 2004. Written for a high-school audience, this short book is full of facts and details.

Mcgrayne, Sharon Bertsch. “Gertrude Elion.” In Nobel Prize Women in Science: Their Lives, Struggles, and Momentous Discoveries. Rev. ed. Secaucus, N.J.: Carol, 1998. Describes Elion’s life and the ideas that drove her.

Mattern, Joanne. Gertrude Elion and the Development of Revolutionary Medications. Hockessin, Del.: Mitchell Lane, 2005. Written for an elementary or junior high audience; chronicles Elion’s career, discoveries, and obstacles overcome.

St. Pierre, Stephanie. Gertrude Elion: Master Chemist. Vero Beach, Fla.: Rourke Enterprises, 1993. Biography written upon Elion’s induction as the first woman in the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 1991.

Slater, Elinor, and Robert Slater. Great Jewish Women. Middle Village, N.Y.: Jonathan David, 1994. The Slaters have written on many Jewish topics.