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Roger Altounyan

Roger Edward Collingwood Altounyan (1922-1987) was a Syrian-born physician and pharmacologist of Armenian and English descent who pioneered the use of sodium cromoglycate as a remedy for asthma.

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Starting with khellin, a traditional Middle Eastern remedy for asthma, he discovered in 1965 that khellin's active ingredient was sodium cromoglycate. This was later marketed as Intal by Fisons Pharmaceuticals, which was taken over by Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, who in turn were acquired into Aventis and sanofi-aventis. Prior to the RPR takeover, the R&D element of Fisons was sold to Astra, making it now part of AstraZeneca.

He has been voted as one of the top 1000 scientists of all time in the book Top 1000 Scientists: From the Beginning of Time to 2000 AD by Philip Barker.

During his childhood, his family visited his British grandparents in the Lake District where they met the writer Arthur Ransome. Ransome named some of the primary characters in his famous book, Swallows and Amazons, after Altounyan and two of his three sisters. Ransome later came and stayed with the family in Aleppo, bringing them a small dinghy to sail^[1].

References

National Institutes of Health: Breath Exhibit
Beehive. Describes the book by Rodney Dingle entitled "Roger, The life and distinguished achievements of Dr. Roger Altounyan".
Orr TS. "Roger Altounyan: the man and his work." Respir Med. 1989 May;83 Suppl A:3-6.
Cohen SG. "Asthma among the famous. Roger E. C. Altounyan (1922-1987) British physician and pharmacologist." Allergy Asthma Proc. 1998 Sep-Oct;19(5):328-32.