An Outstandingly Successful Scientist
Dr. Paul Janssen (1926-2003) is generally recognized as one of the most successful investigators into new medicines of the twentieth century. This phenomenally driven and brilliant scientist, together with his teams, developed numerous innovative medicines effective in an extensive range of diseases and disease-related areas, among them pain control, psychiatry, gastroenterology, and various infectious diseases in humans, animals and plants. In the course of his life, he received many prestigious honors from institutions of learning around the world, including 22 honorary doctorates and 5 honorary professorships, for his ground-breaking work in the discovery and development of new medicines, which either saved the lives of millions of people or substantially improved the quality of their lives.

Dr. Paul himself often compared the various scientific disciplines involved in pharmaceutical research to the fingers of a hand: “A good scientist is someone who succeeds in getting the various scientific disciplines to work together harmoniously just as the fingers of a hand can function properly only if they work in concert.” Dr. Paul achieved that goal as no one else. Each of the many honors bestowed on him in various countries in the course of his life is a token of appreciation of his life’s work.

Dr. Paul always personified a unique combination: on the one hand, the brilliant scientist, and on the other, a highly successful business leader. Notwithstanding, nothing was farther from his nature than to attribute his accomplishments exclusively to his own person. A case in point was his elevation to the peerage in 1990, which he regarded not merely as a personal honor but above all as a recognition of the merits of all those who had worked with him over the years and devoted their best efforts to establishing the excellent reputation that Janssen Pharmaceutica had acquired worldwide in only a few decades.

More than 50 years ago, to be precise in 1953, Dr. Paul, on a modest scale, started up his own chemical and pharmaceutical research activities in his parents’ company in Turnhout. From the very outset his primary goal was to develop better medicines capable of improving health and the quality of life. In 1957 the company moved to Beerse, where it grew into a pharmaceutical concern with some forty affiliates around the world. In 1961 Janssen Pharmaceutica joined the Johnson & Johnson worldwide family of companies. Within this multinational group of companies, Janssen evolved independently into an internationally reputed pharmaceutical company distinguished by the exceptional productivity of its research and its broad range of effective medicines for humans, animals and plants. The most important of these human medicines will now be briefly described.

Contributions to a Better Quality of Life
Thanks to its innovative products, of which HALDOL* and RISPERDAL are the best known, Janssen brought about a genuine revolution with reference to mental illness. Literally tens of millions of people, owing to these products, have been able to rebuild a virtually normal life. In the meantime, the search has continued for yet better medicines for not only the initially targeted illnesses but also related mental disorders.

Without the armamentarium of pain-controlling medicines discovered by Dr. Paul Janssen and his teams the history of surgery would have been radically different. Thanks to FENTANYL, developed in the 1960s, surgeons can perform long and extremely complex operations. Before FENTANYL was discovered, 2% of all patients undergoing an operation died because of the anesthetic. Owing to the discovery of Janssen’s anesthetic, this figure was brought down to 0%. Without SUFENTA, a derivative of this product, the first artificial heart implant would have been out of the question.

For a number of other widespread gastrointestinal disorders, like esophageal inflammation, acid reflux and poor digestion, the company has discovered equally effective medicines, such as MOTILIUM, which is a staple of any pharmacy specialized in travel medicines. The worming agent VERMOX is a unique medicine, which is used worldwide to combat worm diseases, especially in developing countries. It is no accident this product is one of the five medicines discovered by Janssen that in the course of time was put on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines.

Fungi cause annoying disorders, such as dandruff or discoloration of the toenails, but can also provoke fatal infections of the internal organs. DAKTARIN was the first product ever discovered that could cure a broad spectrum of fungal disorders. It is also used for opportunistic infections, for example in AIDS patients, who are very susceptible to fungal infections of the mouth, throat and esophagus as a result of their compromised immune system. NIZORAL and SPORANOX followed and were effective in combating both external and internal fungal infections by means of a simple treatment.

* The names in capital letters are Johnson & Johnson tradenames.