Patrick Couvreur
{{Short description|French pharmacologist}}
{{BLP sources|date=May 2019}}
{{Infobox scientist
| honorific_prefix =
| name = Patrick Couvreur
| honorific_suffix =
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| image =
| image_size =
| image_upright =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1950|01|18}}
| birth_place = Schaerbeek, Belgium
| death_date =
| death_place =
| death_cause =
| resting_place =
| resting_place_coordinates =
| home_town =
| other_names =
| pronounce =
| residence =
| citizenship =
| nationality = French
| fields = {{ublist |Pharmacology|Nanotechnology|Drug vectorization}}
| workplaces = University of Paris-Sud
| patrons =
| education = {{ublist |University of Namur|Catholic University of Louvain}}
| alma_mater =
| thesis_title =
| thesis_url =
| thesis_year =
| doctoral_advisor =
| academic_advisors =
| doctoral_students =
| notable_students =
| known_for =
| influences =
| influenced =
| awards = {{ublist |Prix Galien (2009)|CNRS Innovation Medal (2012)|European Inventor Award (2013)}}
| author_abbrev_bot =
| author_abbrev_zoo =
| spouse =
| partner =
| children =
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}
Patrick Couvreur, born 1950 in Schaerbeek (Brussels),[http://www.armb.be/index.php?id=1384 Académie royale de Médecine de Belgique] is a French pharmacologist who specialises in medical nanotechnology and is currently professor at the University of Paris-Sud.
Couvreur was elected as a member into the National Academy of Engineering in 2015 for advances in nanomedicine and commercialization of targeted nanotechnology systems for cancer treatment.
Biography
Patrick Couvreur obtained his Candidature in pharmaceutical science in 1969, at the University of Namur,Patrick Couvreur,
pionnier en nanomédecine (UNamur) [http://www.unamur.be/services/sevrex/sevrexp/librecours/2011/libre-cours-79/lc79-p10] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305011908/http://www.unamur.be/services/sevrex/sevrexp/librecours/2011/libre-cours-79/lc79-p10 |date=2016-03-05 }} followed by a diploma in pharmacy in 1972, at the Catholic University of Louvain (UCL). He received a Doctorate in pharmaceutical science in 1975 from the same university, where he worked in the laboratory next door to the Belgian Nobel Prize winner,[http://www.lepoint.fr/futurapolis/coulisses/les-nanomedicaments-un-grand-espoir-pour-la-guerison-de-cancers-11-02-2012-1430528_532.php Le Point, 11 février 2012] Christian de Duve, who was an inspiration for his subsequent career.[http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/cd285ce6-b70d-11e2-a249-00144feabdc0.html Financial Times, 28 May 2013]
From 1976 to 1977 he was a postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zurich, before joining the Catholic University of Louvain, first as a senior research assistant, and then as a senior researcher.
In 1984 he was appointed to a professorship at the Institut Galien Paris Sud (University of Paris-Sud/CNRS).France Info, 14 septembre 2012
In 2009–2010, he held the Liliane Bettencourt Chair of Technological Innovation at the Collège de France.{{cite web
|url=https://www.college-de-france.fr/site/en-annual-chairs-previous/Chair-in-Technological-Innovation-Liliane-Bettencourt.htm
|title=Chair in Technological Innovation Liliane Bettencourt - Annual Chairs
|publisher=Collège de France
|access-date=7 May 2017
}}
He has three children and several grandchildren.
Principal achievements
Patrick Couvreur is known for his work in the field of drug vectorization for the treatment of cancer.
In 1997 he founded BioAlliance,[http://www.lecho.be/actualite/archive/Patrick_Couvreur_un_inventeur_au_coeur_de_la_revolution_des_nanotechnologies.9351374-1802.art L'Echo, 29 mai 2013] a company that employs more than 60 people. In 2007, he founded Medsqual, a start-up that seeks to develop nanomedicines based on squalene{{cite web
|url=https://www.epo.org/learning-events/european-inventor/finalists/2013/couvreur/feature.html
|title=Fighting cancer with nanotechnology
|publisher=European Patent Office
|access-date=6 May 2019
}}
Prizes and distinctions
Patrick Couvreur was awarded the Prix Galien in 2009[http://www.pharmaceutiques.com/phq/mag/pdf/phq169_120_industrie.pdf Prix Galien 2009 Les Trois Laureates] for his work on "squalenization", a significant advance in drug vectorization that involves coupling an active ingredient with squalene. In the same year he received 2,2 million euros of funding from the European Research Council (ERC).[https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-077953 European Inventor Award 2013 - Patrick Couvreur (Research)]
On 20 June 2012, he shared the CNRS Innovation Medal with Alain Benoit and José-Alain Sahel.{{cite web
|url=https://www.cnrs.fr/en/research/awards/innovation.htm
|title=CNRS Innovation medalists
|date=18 March 2018
|publisher= CNRS
|access-date= 6 May 2019
}}
In 2013 Patrick Couvreur was awarded the European Inventor Award for his work on nanocapsules for cancer treatment.
Patrick Couvreur is a member of the French Academy of Sciences, the French Academy of Technologies the Académie Nationale de Médecine and the Académie de Pharmacie. He is also a foreign member of the National Academy of Medicine (USA), the National Academy of Engineering (USA), the Belgian Royal Academy of Medicine and the Real Academia Nacional de Farmacia (Spain).
On 31 December 2017, he was appointed a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor.
In 2019, he received the Journal of Drug Targeting’s Lifetime Achievement Award.{{cite journal
| last = Akhtar
| first = Saghir
| date = 28 February 2019
| title = In honour of Professor Patrick Couvreur, Recipient of the Journal of Drug Targeting's Lifetime Achievement Award for 2019
| journal = Journal of Drug Targeting
| volume = 27
| issue = 5–6
| pages = 467–468
| doi = 10.1080/1061186X.2019.1589139
| pmid = 30816061
| doi-access= free
}}
Notes and references
{{Reflist}}
External links
- Portrait of an innovator: Patrick Couvreur develops nanotechnologies for delivering therapeutic drugs to specific areas of the body [https://atelier.bnpparibas/en/health/article/portrait-innovator-patrick-couvreur-develops-nanotechnologies-delivering-therapeutic-drugs-specific-areas-body-1]
- {{cite journal
| last1 = Feng
| first1 = Jiao
| last2 = Lepetre-Mouelhi
| first2 = Sinda
| last3 = Gautier
| first3 = Anne
| last4 = Mura
| first4 = Simona
| last5 = Cailleau
| first5 = Catherine
| last6 = Coudore
| first6 = François
| last7 = Hamon
| first7 = Michel
| last8 = Couvreur
| first8 = Patrick
| date = 2019
| title = A new painkiller nanomedicine to bypass the blood-brain barrier and the use of morphine
| journal = Science Advances
| volume = 5
| issue = 2
| pages = eaau5148
| doi = 10.1126/sciadv.aau5148
| pmid = 30788432
| pmc= 6374102
| bibcode = 2019SciA....5.5148F
}}
- {{cite journal
| last = Fattal
| first = Elias
| date = 2019
| title = A tribute to Professor Patrick Couvreur: a creative and visionary scientist in the field of nanomedicine
| journal = Journal of Drug Targeting
| volume = 27
| issue = 5–6
| pages = 469
| doi = 10.1080/1061186X.2019.1579821
| pmid = 30730226
| doi-access= free
}}
- {{cite web
|url=https://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/business/2013/10/10/spc-make-create-innovate-nanoparticles.cnn.html
|title=Fighting cancer with nanotechnology
|last=Glass
|first=Nick
|publisher=CNN
|access-date=6 May 2019
}}
- {{cite web
|url=https://www.college-de-france.fr/site/en-patrick-couvreur/index.htm
|title= Biography - Technological Innovation Liliane Bettencourt (2009-2010)
|publisher=Collège de France
|access-date=7 May 2019
}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Courvreur, Patrick}}
Category:French pharmacologists
Category:Université catholique de Louvain alumni
Category:Université de Namur alumni
Category:Academic staff of Paris-Saclay University