Moncada, Salvador: transcript of a video interview (24- and 25-Apr-2008)

Abstract

Salvador Moncada also pioneered new fields. As a student of Sir John Vane he helped discover how aspirin inhibits prostaglandin biosynthesis and at the Wellcome Research Laboratories he discovered the prostaglandin derivative prostacyclin, which suppresses blood platelet aggregation and is now widely used therapeutically. Moncada is best known for his research in the 1980’s which helped identify what was then described as “endothelium derived relaxing factor” as the simple gaseous chemical nitric oxide. His influential review of the field was one of the most highly cited papers of the 1990s, with more than 6,500 citations (Moncada, S (1991) Nitric oxide – physiology, pathophysiology and pharmacology Pharmacol Rev 43:109-142). Many believed that he should have shared the 1998 Nobel Prize for the discovery of nitric oxide. He has since collaborated with industrial partners to explore the development of therapeutic products based on nitric oxide pharmacology.