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Dr. John Robbins (a giant whom I never heard of before), developed methods for making better vaccines, died last month of prostate cancer.
His big development was a new way to make a Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b) meningitis vaccine effective in young babies.
Prior to the vaccine, Hib meningitis once killed more than a thousand infants a day worldwide.
Now the rate is almost non-existent in the US, only about one case of Hib meningitis a year for every million children under age 5.
The method he and his collaborators developed, linking an antigen to a polysaccharide, was also used to make improved vaccines against other diseases.
He worked at the NIH and never profited from his discoveries. Now-a-days, any such advance would be immediately patented by the institute it was developed in.
NY Times obituary here.
His big development was a new way to make a Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b) meningitis vaccine effective in young babies.
Prior to the vaccine, Hib meningitis once killed more than a thousand infants a day worldwide.
Now the rate is almost non-existent in the US, only about one case of Hib meningitis a year for every million children under age 5.
The method he and his collaborators developed, linking an antigen to a polysaccharide, was also used to make improved vaccines against other diseases.
He worked at the NIH and never profited from his discoveries. Now-a-days, any such advance would be immediately patented by the institute it was developed in.
NY Times obituary here.