Egyptian chemist Magid Abou-Gharbia wins the 2026 John Scott Award
The Cairo University emeritus professor, whose work at Wyeth led to 10 medicines on the market, shares Philadelphia's science prize, once given to Marie Curie and Thomas Edison.
Magid Abou-Gharbia, an Egyptian medicinal chemist with a long career in drug discovery, has received the 2026 John Scott Award in Philadelphia for his contributions to pharmaceutical research, CairoScene reported on 3 November.
Abou-Gharbia is a professor at Temple University in Philadelphia and an emeritus professor at Cairo University's Faculty of Pharmacy. He is also a visiting professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy of The British University in Egypt, so his link with students at home has not stopped.
His research has contributed to 145 US patents and to nearly a dozen new drugs. Before returning to academia he worked at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, where he led drug discovery programmes that produced 10 marketed medicines. Among them are the antidepressants Effexor and Pristiq, the painkiller Dezocine and the kidney cancer treatment Torisel. At Temple he became the founding director of the Moulder Center for Drug Discovery Research, and his current work includes research into possible treatments for cocaine and opioid addiction.
The John Scott Award is administered by the Board of Directors of City Trusts in Philadelphia and goes to scientific and technological work with practical benefits for people. Its earlier winners include Marie Curie and Thomas Edison. This year Abou-Gharbia shares it with Penn State professor Nina Jablonski and Eli Lilly executive Daniel Skovronsky, and each of the three receives USD 10,000.
The prize puts an Egyptian name on one of the oldest science awards in the United States, in a field where most of the work stays out of sight: few people taking a common antidepressant know who led the team that found it. For pharmacy students in Cairo, his visiting role at The British University in Egypt is the most direct way to hear him in person; the university's Faculty of Pharmacy is the place to ask about his lectures.