“This is an important year, a big year,” declared Dr. Timothy Block, president of the Hepatitis B Foundation (HBF), in his welcome address to the more than 200 guests at the 10th annual Crystal Ball gala held at Occasions in New Hope, PA, on March 25. “We not only want to recognize an outstanding scientist, but we also want to celebrate our remarkable national advocacy initiatives. At the local level, we will also be giving back in a big way to Pennsylvania by opening a major biotechnology center this summer, the first of its kind in the area!”

The HBF’s Distinguished Scientist Award was presented this year to Raymond Schinazi, Ph.D., professor of Pediatrics and Chemistry at Emory University, and senior research scientist at the Atlanta Department of Veterans Affairs. “The Hepatitis B Foundation is proud to recognize Dr. Schinazi who is an outstanding scientist, educator and biotech leader,” said Dr. Block. “He has helped define modern antiviral drug research.”

Past recipients of this award include Drs. Harvey Alter, Raymond Dwek, Jay Hoofnagle, Thomas London, William Mason, and Jesse Summers.

Dr. Schinazi was honored in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to the science and discovery of new drugs for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B. He is internationally renowned for his pioneering work in HIV and viral hepatitis research. Six of his drug discoveries are now approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or are at various stages of clinical development. He also has a long history of bridging the science to business gap and is co-founder of several biotechnology companies focusing on antiviral drug discovery and development (RFS Pharma, Pharmasset, Triangle Pharmaceuticals, and Idenix Pharmaceuticals).

“It is estimated that as many as 80% of all people treated for HIV and HBV have received a drug discovered all or in part by Dr. Schinazi, a record not equaled by any other university scientist,” said Dr. Block. “This means his discoveries have been responsible for saving tens of thousands of lives.” Hearing of this remarkable achievement, all of the guests were moved to give Dr. Schinazi a standing ovation.

In accepting the award, Dr. Schinazi modestly said “I appreciate the attention, but really, we should recognize the accomplishments of my colleagues in this room who are all working together on hepatitis B during a time when there’s a lot of competition for research dollars. We didn’t plan on success, but through our hard work, we have made great progress.”

Dr. Schinazi also provided strong encouragement, “This is a very exciting time for hepatitis B. It is important for the Hepatitis B Foundation to continue to push companies to search for cures because tremendous headway has been made, and the best is yet to come!”

As the foundation’s signature fundraising event, the Crystal Ball raised more than $55,000 to help support the HBF’s important research and outreach programs.

BInformed, Summer 2006.