Nicholas A. Meanwell joined Bristol Myers Squibb in 1982 and retired in 2022 after having led drug discovery programs in the cardiovascular, neurosciences and virology therapeutic areas, work that resulted in the advancement of 33 clinical candidates. Nick and his team were involved in the design and development of flindokalner (MaxiPost®) (P3 for the treatment of stroke), the HIV-1 attachment inhibitor fostemsavir (RukobiaTM), the HIV-1 maturation inhibitors BMS-955176, fipravirimat and zegruvirimat, the HCV NS5A inhibitor daclatasvir (DaklinzaTM), the HCV NS3 protease inhibitors BMS-605339 and asunaprevir (SunvepraTM), and the HCV NS5B inhibitor beclabuvir, marketed as XymencyTM, a fixed dose combination with daclatasvir and asunaprevir.
Nick has authored/co-authored more than 300 publications, review articles, book chapters and editorials and 205 meeting abstracts and presented more than 180 invited lectures at National and International meetings, Universities and Schools on Medicinal Chemistry. He is named as an inventor/co-inventor of 144 issued U.S. Patents. Nick has organized/co-organized more than 60 sessions at National and International Meetings, ACS Webinars in Drug Discovery, ACS Prospectives Meetings and Short Courses on aspects of drug design. He is currently an Associate Editor for the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry with co-responsibility for Perspectives articles.
Nick was the recipient of the 2015 Philip S. Portoghese Medicinal Chemistry Lectureship Award administered jointly by the ACS Division of Medicinal Chemistry and the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. He was inducted into the ACS Division of Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame in 2015, was the co-recipient of “Heroes of Chemistry” Awards sponsored by the American Chemical Society in 2017 and 2023 and was the recipient of the 2022 Alfred Burger Award in Medicinal Chemistry sponsored by the American Chemical Society. He was appointed a Fellow of the American Chemical Society in August 2022 and is named as the recipient of the 2024 Antonín Holý Memorial Award administered by the International Society for Antiviral Research.
Nick received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Sheffield under the supervision of Dr. D. Neville Jones and completed a post-doctoral fellowship with Professor Carl R. Johnson at Wayne State University.