Press Release

President George W. Bush will present this award for scientific and technologic accomplishment to four individuals and one corporate recipient during a White House ceremony in June.

Dr. Pestka was cited for his "for pioneering achievements that led to the development of the biotechnology industry, to the first recombinant interferons for the treatment of cancers, leukemias, viral diseases such as hepatitis B and C, and multiple sclerosis; to fundamental technologies leading to other biotherapeutics; and for basic scientific discoveries in chemistry, biochemistry, genetic engineering and molecular biology from protein biosynthesis to receptors and cell signaling."

The National Medal of Technology, which is the nation's highest achievement for technology, was established by Congress in 1980 and is administered by the U.S. Department of Commerce. It recognizes men and women who embody the spirit of American innovation and have advanced the nation's global competitiveness. The medal recognizes groundbreaking contributions that help commercialize technologies, create jobs, improve productivity and stimulate the nation's growth and development.

In congratulating Dr. Pestka, Dr. Harold L. Paz, dean of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, said "Dr. Pestka has been a leader among academicians in bringing achievements in research from concept to basic research to practical application. He has fostered new industries in multiple areas, and developed new medicines for previously untreatable diseases."

The award is based on a series of achievements that began in 1969 when Dr. Pestka began a project to determine what interferon was. He was enticed by the failure of numerous scientists to define interferon - a substance that held the possibility of curing viral diseases that had challenged the ingenuity of medicine for centuries. Such diseases - hepatitis, influenza, Ebola, Dengue, Yellow Fever, West Nile, and even the common cold - can be pandemics or dreaded fevers which kill over 90 percent of those infected.

"The possibility that a single medicine could treat all viral diseases was alluring," Dr. Pestka said, "After taking a few months to evaluate the scientific basis and potential of interferon, I decided to take the substantial risk and commit resources to pursue this research."

Seventeen years later, his dream was fulfilled when the interferon he developed was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1986. During this period, Dr. Pestka made a remarkable series of discoveries and developments, "often bucking prevailing beliefs and designing innovative solutions to problems along the way to success."

His achievements brought a portfolio of groundbreaking patents for Hoffmann-La Roche where he did the work at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology. Dr. Pestka's efforts led to the commercialization of interferons to treat viral diseases, cancers and multiple sclerosis in the U.S. and around the world. His discoveries created new products and numerous jobs in the manufacture, production and distribution and treatment of diseases with interferon. The market for interferon today is over a $5 billion.

In addition to interferon's commercial impact, there was no general antiviral therapy available before Dr. Pestka began his work on interferon; today, interferon is the first and only general antiviral therapy. Interferon is used to treat hepatitis B and C, diseases which have been diagnosed in more than 300 million people worldwide. Interferons are used for the treatment of cancers such as malignant melanoma and bladder cell carcinoma, some leukemias, AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma, and multiple sclerosis.

Dr. Pestka's breakthroughs have made an enormous impact on the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries and on the development of new biotherapeutics for medicine. His work is the basis of several U.S. and more than 100 foreign patents. Interferon is a major product of several U.S. companies and foreign companies almost all of which license interferon under Dr. Pestka's patents, including Schering-Plough, Hoffmann-La Roche, Amgen, Biogen and Berlex. Biogen's major product is Avonex, which is used for the treatment of multiple sclerosis.

Dr. Pestka has been professor and chairman of the Department of Molecular Genetics, Microbiology and Immunology at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Piscataway since 1986.

He received his undergraduate degree in chemistry from Princeton University in 1957 and his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in 1961.

After completing a pediatric and medical internship at Baltimore City Hospitals, in 1962 he took a position in the laboratory of Dr. Marshall W. Nirenberg at the National Heart Institute, where he was part of the team working on research involving the genetic code, protein synthesis and ribosome function that led to Dr. Nirenberg receiving the Nobel Prize in Physiology.

While in the Nirenberg Laboratory, Dr. Pestka discovered how the genetic code of the mRNA is translated into protein through the small ribosomal subunit, a surprising discovery that was contrary to the scientific thinking at that time. In several published peer-reviewed research papers, he showed that miscoding by antibiotics such as streptomycin was caused by the interaction with the ribosome.

His further study defined how certain antibiotics affect protein synthesis. That led to the understanding that half of the antibiotics in therapeutic use functioned through the ribosome by different mechanisms he discovered. This early work helped create new fundamental tenets about the mechanism of proteins biosynthesis.

In 1966, Dr. Pestka moved to the National Cancer Institute, where for three years he continued his research on protein synthesis and began investigations in other areas.

In 1969, he joined the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology in Nutley, New Jersey, where he initiated the work on interferon that was the basis of the work for which the National Medal of Technology was awarded.

In addition to his teaching and research activities at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, in 1990 Dr. Pestka founded PBL Biomedical Laboratories, a biotechnology company developing interferon-based cancer treatments with the aim finding ways to use interferons effectively against disease while reducing the deleterious side effects which can accompany interferon therapy. PBL's InterferonSource reagent business is the largest manufacturer of interferon reagents in the world for research use.

As chairman and chief scientific officer, he is directing research projects to develop "ultra interferons "-the next generation of interferons which are up to 30 times more potent than current interferon drugs. His work has also led to the company's development of a Sustained Release Protein Delivery ("SuRe-PD?") technology to deliver interferon directly to tumors and release it slowly over time. Dr. Pestka said, "These technologies together will enable PBL to develop more effective cancer treatments with dramatically reduced side effects. We hope to bring this therapy to market in less than six years."

The company supports its drug development efforts with revenues generated by the sale of biochemicals and with grants, such as Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants from the National Cancer Institute.

Dr. Pestka was inducted into the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame in 1993, and has received numerous for his research including the Selman Waksman Award in Microbiology and the Milstein Award from International Society for Interferon and Cytokine Research;

Dr. Pestka is secretary and former president of the International Society of Interferon Research and has served on committees of several prominent organizations, including the National Cancer Institute's Breast Cancer Task Force, the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Scholarly Communication with the People's Republic of China, and the Basic Pharmacology Advisory Committee of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association Foundation.

He has published several books and written research articles for several prestigious peer-reviewed scientific journals over the past 30 years.

As one of the top comprehensive medical schools in the country, UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School is dedicated to the pursuit of excellence in education, research, delivery of health care and the promotion of community health for the residents of the state. The school maintains educational programs at the undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate levels, as well as continuing education courses for health professionals and community education programs. With twenty basic science and clinical departments, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School ranks in the top one-third in the nation in terms of grant support per faculty member. The medical school integrates a diversity of clinical programs conducted at its thirty-seven hospital affiliates and numerous ambulatory care sites in the region. The major institutes affiliated with the school are The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, the Cardiovascular Institute, the Child Health Institute of New Jersey, the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, and the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute.