After much deliberation, the jury decided to award the 2022 IUPAC-Richter Prize to Professor Michael E. Jung from the University of California Los Angeles. The successful medicinal chemistry research work of Michael E. Jung afforded two drugs for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer. Both drugs are androgen receptor antagonists and represent ground-breaking advancements in the discovery of new agents in this drug class. His research has resulted in treatments that have extended the lives of tens of thousands of men with prostate cancer.

Professor Jung’s work is a unique and encouraging example of an academic contribution to drug research and a foreshadow of today’s environment, where we see increasing interest in drug discovery within the academic sector.