125 stories for 125 years

Takeru Higuchi

Born in the United States in 1918, Dr Takeru Higuchi grew up on a small farm in California. He earned a degree in chemistry (honours) from the University of California, Berkeley in 1939. He then began his graduate studies in physical-organic chemistry at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, which he completed when he received his PhD in 1943.

Dr Higuchi later took a position at University of Wisconsin in the university’s School of Pharmacy where he spent two decades, during which he became the accepted leader of the new field of ‘physical pharmacy’. In 1966 he moved to a position at the University of Kansas. The University offered him considerable authority to develop a nationally recognised program in pharmaceutical chemistry. His research centred on improving drug delivery. Dr Higuchi and his graduate students focused on devising biological ‘packages’ for drugs that would reach the target tissue and release their contents in a controlled manner.

He designed a tablet that uses osmosis to regulate the discharge of the medicine rather than releasing it all at once, limiting unwanted side effects. He also developed an anti-glaucoma agent that put a chemical wrapper around a drug molecule, enabling the medicine to penetrate the eye membrane much more efficiently than it otherwise could.

Dr Higuchi played part in starting drug companies; Alza Corporation and INTERx. In 1983, he recognised the effect new drugs had on increasing health care costs, and expressed his concern about whether or not his work had really been in society’s best interests.

He published more than 300 articles about his research and acquired more than 50 patents. He received numerous awards throughout his career and in 1981 the American Pharmaceutical Association Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences announced the establishment of the Takeru Higuchi Research Prize. Dr Higuchi and his wife also established eight different scholarship funds for the University of Kansas.

Dr Higuchi along with Nigel Manning who was dean of the college 1963 to 1978, established the Intersearch program, which has become a highly productive link between the two institutions.