Malcolm Stevens | |
---|---|
Born | Malcolm Francis Graham Stevens 1938 (age 85–86) |
Citizenship | British |
Education | Bolton School |
Alma mater | University of Nottingham |
Spouse | Valerie Deans (m.1961) |
Malcolm Francis Graham Stevens OBE, FRS (born 1938) [1] is an English chemist and Emeritus professor of the University of Nottingham, having previously worked at Aston University where he developed the cancer drug temozolomide. [2] [3]
Stevens attended Bolton School, Lancashire, and then obtained a BSc and PhD at the University of Nottingham. [4]
He married Valerie Deans at Christ Church, Heaton, Bolton, in 1961. [5] [6]
Stevens took up a post of Reader in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Aston University in 1972, and was later appointed Professor. He was a member of the Cancer Research UK Experimental Cancer Chemotherapy group from 1980 to 2006, moving to the University of Nottingham in 1992. [3] [7] Stevens's lab synthesised Temozolomide, which as of 2019, remains the only FDA-approved drug to treat the deadly brain tumor Glioblastoma multiforme. Temozolomide has had a substantial impact in the clinic: the 5-year survival with radiation alone is 4%, whilst with radiation plus temozolomide, it approaches 17%. The 10 year survival without temozolomide is <1% versus around 8% with temozolomide. Thus, long term survivorship with GBM is now possible (if not common), thanks to the work of Stevens and his group. [8] [9]
Stevens was appointed OBE in the 1999 New Year Honours "For services to the development of Cancer Drugs", being described as "Professor of Experimental Cancer Chemotherapy, University of Nottingham". [10] He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2009. [2]