Pprofile Dr Patrick Humphrey OBE

Patrick Humphrey graduated from the School of Pharmacy, University of London, in 1968. After obtaining a PhD in pharmacology at St Mary’s Hospital Medical School, he was invited by Sir David Jack to join Allen and Hanburys to initiate a project on migraine. His work on cerebrovascular pharmacology led directly to the discovery of sumatriptan, the prototype of a new drug class (the Triptans) for the acute treatment of migraine. During this time, he became the overall Director of the Glaxo Division of Pharmacology that was not only instrumental in the development of sumatriptan, but also ondansetron and salmeterol.Patrick Humphrey has received many academic honours, including the Society’s Vane medal, an honorary Professorship from the University of Cambridge and the Royal Society’s Mullard medal. In 1999, he was awarded the OBE for “services to migraine research”. He maintains a passion for research aimed at drug discovery and was the successful Head of Research at Theravance from 2001 to 2008. Latterly he has been consulting for a number of new, innovative biotech companies.