Richard Lern­er, an­ti­body pi­o­neer and long­time pres­i­dent of Scripps Re­search, dies at 83

Richard Lern­er, the es­teemed bio­chemist who pi­o­neered a new way to de­vel­op mon­o­clon­al an­ti­bod­ies and led Scripps Re­search In­sti­tute to promi­nence, has passed away.

A spokesper­son for Scripps told the San Diego Union-Tri­bune that Lern­er died of can­cer in his La Jol­la home. He was 83 years old.

Among oth­er things, Lern­er’s lab was known for de­vis­ing a new tech­nique for cre­at­ing an­ti­bod­ies — de­ployed as can­cer treat­ments as well as in im­munol­o­gy and dis­ease re­search — one that the New York Times called a “ma­jor ad­vance in biotech­nol­o­gy.” It led to com­pa­nies mak­ing mAbs a thou­sand times faster, more ac­cu­rate­ly, at a low­er cost. That foun­da­tion­al re­search ce­ment­ed the dis­cov­ery of Hu­mi­ra, which went on to be­come the world’s best-sell­ing treat­ment.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER