Awarding the NAUTA prize, the EFMC acknowledges and recognises outstanding achievements in the advancement of Medicinal Chemistry and the development of international organisational structures in Medicinal Chemistry . The EFMC is pleased to announce that the recipient of the 2008 Nauta prize for outstanding achievements in the field of Medicinal Chemistry is Professor Hugo Kubinyi. Prof. Kubinyi research focuses on many aspects of rational drug discovery that he has contributed to disseminate with his outstanding skills in presenting scientific topics. With this he has extremely stimulated the entire field of medicinal chemistry in general, and the area of rational drug discovery in particular. This award recognises Professor Kubinyi’s contributions in the development, application and dissemination of the rational drug discovery in medicinal chemistry. The results achieved by Prof. Kubinyi are documented in more then 100 publications and seven books that have been particularly instrumental in providing excellent handbooks for newcomers and experienced practitioners to the fields of medicinal chemistry. The development and launch into the market of Meproscillarin (CLIFT), a partially synthetic cardiac glycoside, provides a powerful example of the success achieved by Prof. Kubinyi as medicinal chemist.

The EFMC awards the UCB – Ehrlich prize to a young scientist for outstanding research in the field of Medicinal Chemistry in its broadest sense. The EFMC is pleased to announce that the recipient of the 2008 UCB – Ehrlich Award for outstanding achievements in the field of Medicinal Chemistry is Professor Peter H. Seeberger. This award is the recognition of Professor Seeberger’s excellent contributions in the fields of automated oligosaccharide synthesis, carbohydrate microarrays and microreactors, synthetic heparin oligosaccharides and synthetic oligosaccharides as vaccine candidates. Remarkably, his research has resulted in the clinical development of compounds for the potential use as Malaria or Anthrax vaccines. The brilliant results achieved by Prof. Seeberger lay the foundations on the vertical integration of his scientifically ambitious program from methods in organic synthesis to applications of oligosaccharides to the prevention of diseases of the developing world.

To encourage innovation and investigation in technological development related to drug discovery, the EFMC awards the Prous Institute – Overton and Meyer prize to the author of discovery, evaluation or use of new technologies. The EFMC is pleased to announce that the recipient of the 2008 Prous Institute and Meyer Award for outstanding achievements in the field of New Technologies in Drug Discovery is Professor Steven V. Ley. This award acknowledges Professor Ley commitment to the development, discovery, evaluation and use of new technologies for drug discovery. Through his career, Prof. Ley has been interested in how technology can impact on synthetic chemistry attaining excellent results in many key areas of technology in drug discovery. His contributions include early adoption of ultrasound and microwave techniques for chemical synthesis, the use of design of experiment software for reaction optimization, the multi-step use of immobilised reagents, scavengers and catch and release concepts, the generation of encapsulated catalysts for cleaner reaction processing, the use of immobilised enzymes in synthesis, and the impressive advances in the area of flow chemistry and micro reactor technology. The brilliant results achieved by Prof. Ley, documented by over 630 publications in the area of new synthetic methods and their application to biologically active molecules, give him a great visibility in the field of medicinal chemistry and drug discovery.

This award recognises Professor Famulok’s excellent contributions in the development and application of aptamer- and allosteric ribozyme-based technologies that are instrumental in different areas of chemical biology and drug discovery. Remarkably, Prof. Famulok has established aptamer-displacement assays and aptamer-regulated allosteric ribozymes to successfully identify small molecules able to mimic the inhibitory profile of aptamers in order to overcome issues related to the scarce drug-like profile of the latter. For example, SecinH3 was identified as the first small molecule inhibitor of cytohesins. The work of Prof. Famulok represents an outstanding contribution to several important domains of chemical biology which comprise the elucidation of chemical mechanisms in biological systems, the expansion of biological knowledge through chemistry, the enhancement of understanding of protein function and ligand-protein interactions. The brilliant results achieved by Prof. Famulok are certified by his research articles published in high quality scientific journals. We would like to congratulate Professor Famulok on this outstanding contribution to the field of Chemical Biology and wish him continued success in his future endeavours.