Summary
Pierre Potier, Director of the Institut de chimie des substances naturelles in Gif-sur-Yvette, received the CNRS Gold Medal for 1998.
A pharmacist by training, Potier became interested very early on in the isolation and structural analysis of organic substances, then in the biosynthesis of these substances. Subsequently he specialized in the search for new compounds which could be used in the treatment of tumoral diseases. To facilitate this research he developed a simple biological test, the tubulin test. Among the successes recorded by Pierre Potier and his team are two anti-cancer drugs marketed today all over the world - Navelbine and Taxotere.
A pharmacist by training, Potier became interested very early on in the isolation and structural analysis of organic substances, then in the biosynthesis of these substances. Subsequently he specialized in the search for new compounds which could be used in the treatment of tumoral diseases. To facilitate this research he developed a simple biological test, the tubulin test. Among the successes recorded by Pierre Potier and his team are two anti-cancer drugs marketed today all over the world - Navelbine and Taxotere.
