From Poison to Prescription

Speaker: Sheikh M Ahmed

Castle Fields Bowling Green Clubhouse, Saturday 14 September, 2pm

Since the beginning of civilisation Man has looked around him for nostrums and cures from the world of Nature. Along the way he discovered the poisonous nature of many natural substances and started to explore their properties both for lethal and therapeutic purposes.

From the written historical records, we find a long line of exploration and discovery from the ancient Sumerian civilizations use of aspirin from tree bark for fevers and aches, to the discovery by Alexander Fleming of modern antibiotics, penicillin, in the 20th century.

This talk will cover the history of the use of poisons over the ages; of how physicians managed to tame some of these poisons, with examples of how these discoveries have led to important lifesaving treatments today. The talk will conclude with a description of the processes involved in taking an interesting new discovery to the market and how it eventually finds its place in the modern physician’s usage and practice.

CV Sheikh Ahmed
After graduating from Manchester University in the 1960’s, I started work as a biochemist in the Research Department of ICI Pharmaceuticals (now AstraZeneca), based in Cheshire. I came to live in Wales in 1976 as part of the Sales and Marketing team of ICI and helped to set up the first clinical trial of tamoxifen (a molecule invented by ICI) for the treatment of early breast cancer. I stayed in Wales and was involved in further clinical trials with the company’s developing drug treatments (Zoladex and Casodex) for the late and early stages of prostate cancer.

In my retirement I was invited to join a number of Welsh Government health bodies: I served on the board of the Welsh Cancer Banks Ethics Committee and I was on the management board of clinical trials organised by the Welsh Cancer Trials Network. I have now stepped down from all these voluntary positions to concentrate on being a volunteer in the Myddfai Hall & Community Centre.