Cancer drug discoverer awarded fellowship

Dr Dennis Slamon, the doctor who discovered the breast cancer drug Herceptin, was awarded a fellowship by the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland last night.

Dr Slamon’s discovery of Herceptin in the 1980s has helped to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of woman and paved the way for targeted therapies that have significantly reduced mortality in cancer.

His battle to have Herceptin approved as a treatment was made into a Hollywood film called Living Proof starring Harry Connick jnr as Dr Slamon.

Dr Slamon, the chief of oncology and hematology at the University of California in Los Angeles, said it was “very gratifying to have the work that has been done recognised”.

“I’m honoured to become a member of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland.”

In his citation, Prof John Crown said his long-time friend and collaborator Dr Slamon is “the pre-eminent breast cancer researcher in the world today” and a “good friend” of Ireland.

Prof Crown said Dr Slamon had received every major honour in relation to the discovery of cancer, but his greatest achievement was going to bed every night knowing that his “unique work has saved several hundred lives that day and every day”.

Irish women were among the first outside the United States to receive the Herceptin drug through the Irish Co-operative Oncology Research Group.