Ivermectin developed by Japan-Merck collaboration starting 1973, resulting in a product by 1987: https://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/discovery-of-ivermectin-mectizan.pdf

The synthesis and development of ivermectin by Merck in the 1970s and 1980s provided a breakthrough treatment against infectious diseases transmitted by parasites. This discovery resulted from an international collaboration that screened hundreds of natural products to identify a promising lead compound. Merck scientists synthesized thousands of analogs of this lead and tested them. The result, ivermectin, offered a highly effective treatment for several parasitic diseases affecting a variety of animals. Following its approval for human use in 1987, Merck established a worldwide program to donate ivermectin as Mec- tizan® to treat onchocerciasis (river blindness), greatly reducing the prevalence of this debilitating disease. In 2015, Merck scientist William Campbell shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his role in developing ivermectin.

Interesting origin story of Ivermectin. Looks similar to Bitcoin origin story, even has a “Satoshi”. How common is that name in Japan?

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Satoshi Ōmura (*1935), a microbiolo- gist and bioorganic chemist at Tokyo’s Kitasato Institute, hunted for new sources of pharmaceuticals.

Ivermectin developed by Japan-Merck collaboration starting 1973, resulting in a product by 1987: https://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/discovery-of-ivermectin-mectizan.pdf

The synthesis and development of ivermectin by Merck in the 1970s and 1980s provided a breakthrough treatment against infectious diseases transmitted by parasites. This discovery resulted from an international collaboration that screened hundreds of natural products to identify a promising lead compound. Merck scientists synthesized thousands of analogs of this lead and tested them. The result, ivermectin, offered a highly effective treatment for several parasitic diseases affecting a variety of animals. Following its approval for human use in 1987, Merck established a worldwide program to donate ivermectin as Mec- tizan® to treat onchocerciasis (river blindness), greatly reducing the prevalence of this debilitating disease. In 2015, Merck scientist William Campbell shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his role in developing ivermectin.

Interesting origin story of Ivermectin. Looks similar to Bitcoin origin story, eve has a “Satoshi”. How common is that name in Japan?

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Satoshi Ōmura (*1935), a microbiolo- gist and bioorganic chemist at Tokyo’s Kitasato Institute, hunted for new sources of pharmaceuticals.

Ivermectin developed by Japan-Merck collaboration starting 1973, resulting in a product by 1987: https://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/discovery-of-ivermectin-mectizan.pdf

The synthesis and development of ivermectin by Merck in the 1970s and 1980s provided a breakthrough treatment against infectious diseases transmitted by parasites. This discovery resulted from an international collaboration that screened hundreds of natural products to identify a promising lead compound. Merck scientists synthesized thousands of analogs of this lead and tested them. The result, ivermectin, offered a highly effective treatment for several parasitic diseases affecting a variety of animals. Following its approval for human use in 1987, Merck established a worldwide program to donate ivermectin as Mec- tizan® to treat onchocerciasis (river blindness), greatly reducing the prevalence of this debilitating disease. In 2015, Merck scientist William Campbell shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his role in developing ivermectin.