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Burton Christensen

Burton Christensen
Burton Christensen

Bacteria fighter

The inventor of three important antibiotics while at Merck, Burton Christensen continues combating diseases at his new company.

From an early age, Burton Christensen developed an interest in science.

"I read every science book in the Waterloo Library," the 1952 chemistry alumnus of Iowa State said. "Science, particularly chemistry and biology, was thrilling to me."

So thrilling that he bought a chemistry set and soon had rigged his own laboratory in the basement of his parents' Waterloo home before he even went to high school.

His parents stayed supportive of his chemistry efforts even after he created unusual odors in the basement from his experiments. Plus, as he says, "I don't think they would have approved of me dissecting animals in the basement."

Christensen's parents' faith in his abilities was the world of chemistry's gain. A chemist for 36 years for pharmaceutical giant Merck, Christensen was the co-inventor of three antibiotics there.

"Merck was the best pharmaceutical company in the country and one of the best companies to work for," he said. "When I was there it was named America's "Most Admired Company" by Fortune for four consecutive years."

"It was an exciting time to work at Merck. I liked what I was doing."

Christensen started out as a bench organic chemist at Merck after earning his Ph.D. from Harvard. Gradually his duties expanded before he left as a senior vice president of Merck's research labs.

Although he describes himself as a "bench chemist," Christensen says he enjoyed his time both in his laboratory and in the executive offices.

"I was able to do things as an executive I couldn't do in the laboratory," he said. "You can do more directing other people than working at the bench."

While he was still "at the bench," Christensen co-invented three antibiotics that are still in use throughout the world. One of those drugs, Fosmomysin, treats gastrointestinal infections in pre-mature children. Before the drug was invented, 18 of 20 children who were afflicted with the problem would die.

The drug's first test in Spain was extremely positive.

"In this trial all 20 children lived," Christensen said. "That was something that really thrilled me. A few years later on my honeymoon I went to Spain and couldn't help but wonder if some of the children I was seeing had benefited from this drug."

Another drug Christensen invented, Imipenem, was a new class of antibiotics that broaden the spectrum of antibiotics today.

"It was the atomic bomb of antibiotics," Christensen said.

When he retired from Merck in 1992, he didn't stay out of the business too long. Venture capitalists came to him to evaluate their ideas for companies. He consulted for six different firms.

Then the seventh came along.

A former chairman and CEO at Merck, Roy Vagelos, lured Christensen to come out of retirement in 1998 to help create new antibiotics for his San Francisco-based firm Theravance.

"I liked the idea that founded the company," Christensen said. "I was the first employee of Theravance and we went up to 220 employees during the time I was there."

While at Theravance, Christensen has designed a drug, Telavancin, that may work three times as fast the current best antibiotic to quell a staph infection. In a middle-stage trial of the drug, it cured 96% of the patients. It is currently awaiting FDA approval.

Christensen says Telavancin stops growth of the bacteria, allowing the body's normal resistance to take over.

This is just one of two antibiotics that Theravance has in development, both of which have had very successful early trials.

While he has retired for a second time, Christensen stays active consulting with several companies.

"I have to do something intellectually," he said. "Sometimes I look with envy at people playing golf but I would rather spend the day thinking about something useful.

"I think I still have something to contribute."