Children's Hospital Boston Mourns the Death of Dr. Judah Folkman, World Renowned...

Children's Hospital Boston Mourns the Death of Dr. Judah Folkman, World
Renowned Researcher and Founder of the Field of Angiogenesis

BOSTON, Jan. 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On January 14, Dr. Judah Folkman,
founder of the field of angiogenesis, died unexpectedly in Denver, Colo.,
while en route to Vancouver for one of the thousands of lectures that he gave
to scientists around the world. A visionary and scientific pioneer, Dr.
Folkman was founder and director of the Vascular Biology Program at Children's
Hospital Boston, and a professor of Pediatric Surgery and Cell Biology at
Harvard Medical School.

When Dr. Folkman first proposed, in the 1970s, that a cancer could be kept in
check by cutting off its blood supply, he faced skepticism from a scientific
community that simply wasn't ready for his ideas. But he persevered, even
when there were setbacks, and today, more than 1,000 laboratories worldwide
are engaged in the study of angiogenesis, the field he founded. As a result of
Dr. Folkman's vision and resilience, more than 10 new cancer drugs are
currently on the market, and more than 1.2 million patients worldwide are now
receiving anti-angiogenic therapy.

Folkman's work has also spawned intensive research into stimulators of
angiogenesis, to treat conditions such as heart attacks where a new network of
blood vessels is needed, as well as research to control abnormal angiogenesis
in non-cancerous diseases such as macular degeneration and diabetic
retinopathy. The FDA-approved angiogenesis inhibitors Macugen and Lucentis
have slowed vision loss and even restored vision in some patients with macular
degeneration.

"The world has lost a bright light, but his contributions live on in the
thousands of researchers he mentored, new treatments that his work spawned,
and patients for whom he always deeply cared and to whom he gave so generously
of his time and knowledge," said James Mandell, MD, President and Chief
Executive Officer, at Children's Hospital Boston, who began his urologic
training at Children's when Folkman was surgeon-in-chief. "For 30 years, I and
countless other clinicians and scientists have relied on his clinical insight,
expertise wonderful advice and wise counsel. We will miss him dearly."

Dr Folkman first speculated in the 1960s that angiogenesis is also integral to
the complex biology that enables and encourages the growth of tumors and other
forms of cancer. He spent the last four decades validating this hypothesis,
beginning with a seminal paper published in The New England Journal of
Medicine in 1971. In this paper, he proposed the revolutionary concept that
tumors are unable to grow beyond a certain size unless they have a dedicated
blood supply, and that "successful" tumors secrete an unknown substance (which
he then called tumor angiogenesis factor, or TAF) that encourages new blood
vessel growth. The process of angiogenesis, Folkman argued, helps transform a
tumor from a small cluster of mutated cells to a large, malignant growth.
Rather than waging a toxic chemical and radiation battle with a tumor, one
could starve it into submission by shutting down its blood supply.

More than thirty years later, angiogenesis inhibitors and stimulators present
powerful new weapons in the armamentarium against cancer and a host of other
illnesses, including heart and eye disease. At least 50 angiogenesis
inhibitors are in clinical trials around the world, and more than 1,000
laboratories in universities and industry are conducting angiogenesis
research.

"Dr Folkman's contributions profoundly influenced both science and medicine,"
said Bruce Zetter, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer at Children's. He was a
superb physician, a brilliant and creative, scientist and an extraordinary
mentor. His work has given rise to new treatments for cancer, for many forms
of eye disease and for a variety of other diseases characterized by the
abnormal growth of new blood vessels".

At least 50 angiogenesis inhibitors -- including endostatin, angiostatin, 2ME2
(Panzem), and a thrombospondin analog -- are in clinical trials today for
cancer, and 10, including Avastin and Thalomid are FDA-approved. A variety of
other drugs have been discovered to have unexpected anti-angiogenic effects,
including the anti-inflammatory drug celecoxib (Celebrex); rosiglitazone
(Avandia), a drug commonly used to treat Type 2 diabetes; doxycycline, a
common antibiotic; and some cancer drugs that also have other mechanisms of
action, including Erbitux, Herceptin, Velcade and Tarceva. Even some
conventional chemotherapy drugs have demonstrated anti-angiogenic effects when
given in frequent, smaller doses. Folkman envisions that someday angiogenesis
inhibitors will be used together or in combination with conventional
anticancer therapies such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, gene
therapy, or vaccine therapy.

Earlier in his career, Folkman also made important contributions to medical
technology and surgery. While a student at Harvard Medical School, for
example, he developed one of the first implantable pacemakers. While at the
National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda in the early 1960s, he co-developed
silicone rubber implantable polymers for the sustained release of drugs, work
that launched the field of controlled-release technology and led to the
development of Norplant.

"Judah's research combined fundamental understanding of tumorigenesis and
angiogenesis with major practical applications of these insights," said
Jeffrey Flier, Dean of Harvard Medical School. "In addition, he had a profound
influence on generations of Harvard medical students. While directing an
unusually large laboratory with many lines of inquiry, he always made time for
students and teaching. He was an extraordinary role model for faculty and
students at Harvard Medical School."

Folkman is the author of some 400 peer-reviewed papers and more than 100 book
chapters and monographs. He also holds multiple honorary degrees and is the
recipient of numerous national and international awards. He has been elected
to the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences, the American Philosophical Society and the Institute of Medicine of
the National Academy of Sciences. In 2006, Folkman was one of seven people
appointed by President Bush to the National Cancer Advisory Board of the
National Institutes of Health.

Born in Cleveland in 1933, Folkman graduated cum laude from The Ohio State
University, Columbus, Ohio, in 1953. He continued his education at Harvard
Medical School, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1957. Folkman began his
surgical residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital and served as chief
resident in surgery from 1964-1965.

Folkman began his career as an instructor in surgery for Harvard's Surgical
Service at Boston City Hospital Boston, was recruited to Harvard Medical
School as the youngest person ever appointed full professor, and became the
Julia Dyckman Andrus Professor of Pediatric Surgery in 1968. From 1967 he
served as Surgeon-in-Chief at the Children's Hospital Boston for 14 years.

A longtime resident of Brookline, Mass., Folkman is survived by his wife, the
former Paula Prial (of Fall River, Mass.), daughters Laura and Marjorie, and
one granddaughter, Hannah.

Contact:
Bess Andrews
617-919-3103

SOURCE Children's Hospital Boston

Bess Andrews of Children's Hospital, +1-617-919-3103