With new buyout, J&J jumps back in on a storied but troubled Holy Grail target
Over a decade ago, some pharma executives fell in love with a molecule called rapamycin and its genetic target, called mTOR. (Literally: “molecular target of rapamycin.”)
It was easy to see why. Originally identified in 1972 by an Indian-Canadian chemist, who hid it in ice cream tubs in his freezer and then smuggled it into the US after the company he worked for asked him to abandon the program, it was finally approved in 1999 as an immunosuppressant for organ transplant recipients.
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