Heroes of Chemistry recognized for contributions to medicine and technology

30 Apr 2020

“The 2020 Heroes of Chemistry exemplify the spirit of innovation and creativity that is crucial to developing solutions that improve the lives of people worldwide,” says ACS President Luis Echegoyen, Ph.D. “The advances from AST Products, DuPont and Janssen benefit both patients and consumers, and again highlight the importance of the chemical sciences in all areas of industry.”

• AST Products, Inc.: LubriMATRIX™ is a surface treatment technology specifically developed for surgery for cataracts, which are projected to affect more than 38 million Americans by 2030. The new technology enables safer, simpler and more effective intraocular lens delivery, thus protecting the lens from damage during cataract surgery. 
• DuPont Water Solutions: FilmTec™ is a reverse osmosis technology that employs a membrane liquid separation process to reject dissolved solutes on a nanoscale level. Since its introduction 25 years ago, this technology has been widely implemented to provide drinking water for millions of people worldwide and for purification in offshore oil production and the dairy industry. 
• DuPont Electronics & Imaging: Chemical Mechanical Planarization (CMP) is a key process in semiconductor fabrication, which supplies the advanced chips needed for smartphones, computing, the internet of things, vehicles and numerous industrial applications. The CMP process, enabled by DuPont’s CMP pads, has contributed to the success of semiconductor technology for well over 35 years.
• Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson: Approved by FDA in 2012, SIRTURO® (bedaquiline) was the first treatment with a novel mechanism of action against tuberculosis (TB) – the world’s deadliest infectious disease – in nearly half a century. Bedaquiline selectively inhibits the mycobacterial enzyme that produces ATP in TB bacteria, depriving the bacteria of its energy source and effectively killing the pathogens. Today, WHO recommends SIRTURO® as a core component of treatment regimens for all patients with pulmonary drug-resistant TB – a leading contributor to antimicrobial resistance globally.