The 2002 Draper Prize

A basic challenge in therapeutic drug delivery is finding ways to enable the drug to arrive at its intended target in the body before being metabolized and without attacking healthy cells along the way, making the drugs more effective while minimizing toxic side effects. The now-familiar time-release approach is one solution to these problems, but implementation of the approach has to be customized for the drug and the disease, requiring ingenuity. Dr. Robert S. Langer began advancing drug-delivery methods during a postdoctoral fellowship in the lab of cancer researcher Judah Folkman at Children's Hospital in Boston.

Langer's assignment when he joined the Folkman lab in 1974 was to find a way to maintain the gradual release of large organic molecules, similar in size to those of cancer drugs being developed, into the tissue of a laboratory animal. At that time, scientists already had begun encasing molecules in semipermeable polymers that would allow them to escape through the pores in the polymer material; using this method, drugs would be released into the bloodstream at a steady rate over a period of time. However, the molecules of the cancer drugs under development were too large to pass directly through the holes of any available polymer material. Langer adapted the idea of molecules passing through polymer pores by designing a cage-like matrix made of polymer around the drug molecules; the structure's openings were sized to be large enough for the cancer drug molecules to pass through at a slow but steady rate.

Langer's approach is pioneering in that he and his lab determine the exact requirements for a treatment system and design a polymer to meet those needs. Before Langer, scientists and doctors typically took off-the-shelf polymers and adapted them for medical purposes.

Langer has been building on variations of that same technique ever since to pioneer a wide variety of drugs and disease treatments. As one example, he has demonstrated that ultrasound can be used to pass manufactured insulin into the body through the skin, offering a potential alternative to injecting insulin for diabetics.

The Draper Prize Recipient

Dr. Robert S. Langer is the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Germeshausen Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering. Langer is a researcher, teacher, and entrepreneur. In addition to developing controlled drug-delivery systems, Langer works in the field of tissue engineering, pioneering the creation of polymer scaffolds for growing human cells to create whole organs. Langer has been awarded 380 patents, and nearly 80 companies have licensed his inventions. Both Forbes and BioWorld magazines have named Langer one of the 25 most important individuals in biotechnology in the world. Time magazine and CNN named him one of the 18 most important individuals in science and medicine in the U.S. and one of the 100 most important people in America. Langer is a joint faculty member in three MIT graduate programs, and he has created and taught two Integrated Chemical Engineering modules on drug delivery for undergraduates and co-created the undergraduate course "Biotechnology and Engineering." His lab attracts more than 2,000 applicants annually for graduate and postdoctoral research positions. He has written more than 700 papers and 13 books and received 80 academic honors. Langer received his bachelor's degree from Cornell University in 1970 and his doctorate from MIT in 1974, both in chemical engineering. He is the chairman of the United States Food and Drug Administration's Science Board, and he is an active member of all three National Academies. His awards include the Lemelson-MIT Prize in 1998 for his role as an inventor and innovator.

Press Release
CAMBRIDGE -- Dr. Robert S. Langer, a pioneer in the field of controlled drug delivery, has been awarded the 2002 Charles Stark Draper Prize for his extraordinary contributions to the bioengineering of revolutionary medical drug delivery systems.

The Draper Prize is one of engineering's highest honors, and it is awarded annually to individuals or groups whose work demonstrates a "reduction to practice" - a proven innovation--that contributes to human welfare and freedom. Langer received his gold medal and $500,000 honorarium at a ceremony sponsored by the award's administrator, the National Academy of Engineering, last night in Washington, D.C. The prize is endowed by The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc., of Cambridge, Mass.

Langer, MIT's Kenneth J. Germeshausen Professor of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, began making revolutionary contributions to the medical industry almost from the beginning of his career. After receiving his Sc.D. in chemical engineering from MIT in 1974, Langer began a postdoctoral fellowship in the lab of cancer researcher Judah Folkman at Boston's Children's Hospital. His assignment was to find a way to maintain the gradual release of large organic molecules into the tissue of a laboratory animal, the first step in ensuring that the volatile, but highly effective drugs researchers were developing would actually make it to their cancerous target within the body.

Traditional chemotherapy drugs administered directly into the bloodstream are often metabolized by the body well before they reach the intended tumor. Worse yet, the free-floating drug molecules can indiscriminately attack healthy organs and cells, resulting in nausea, hair loss, and a weakened immune system for the patient. Researchers need to be able to deliver the right dose of drugs to the right place in the body at the right time in order to reduce those negative effects.

When Langer joined the Folkman lab, scientists already had begun encasing molecules in semipermeable polymers to release them slowly out into the blood stream through pores in the polymer, but the molecules of the drugs being developed to treat cancer were too large to pass directly through the holes of any available polymer material. Rather than try to force the molecules through impossibly small pores, Langer decided to ignore the pores altogether and use the entire polymer itself to create a cage-like matrix around the drug molecules, where the drug could slowly work its way out through the channels in the structure.

Langer has been building on variations of that same technique ever since, moving beyond Folkman's anti-tumor agents to a wide variety of drugs and disease treatments. Langer's approach is unique because he and his lab determine the exact requirements for a treatment system and design a polymer to meet those needs. In 1986, he worked with Henry Brem of Johns Hopkins University to create the first dime-sized implantable chemotherapy wafers to treat brain cancer at the site of a tumor. He also has pioneered implantable drug delivery systems where release is controlled by magnetic fields, ultrasound and electric pulses, as well as "intelligent drug release" with a silicon-chip system that releases precise quantities of drugs on a programmable schedule.

Langer and his team also are involved heavily in the field of tissue engineering. A current research area for the lab is synthesizing new biodegradable polymer systems to be used to grow new cells systematically in an effort to engineer whole organs like liver and cartilage.

Langer is additionally noteworthy for his ability to take his work to the marketplace. He holds 380 patents that are licensed to almost 80 companies. Both Forbes and BioWorld magazines have named Langer one of the 25 most important individuals in biotechnology in the world. Time magazine and CNN named him one of the 18 most important individuals in science and medicine in the U.S. and one of the 100 most important people in America. His lab attracts more than 2000 applicants annually for graduate and postdoctoral research positions.

Dr. Robert Langer received his bachelor's degree from Cornell University in 1970 and his doctorate from MIT in 1974, both in chemical engineering. He is the chairman of the United States Food and Drug Administration's Science Board and is an active member of all three National Academies, the National Academy of Sciences, Medicine and Engineering. He is the recipient of numerous awards and distinctions, including the Lemelson-MIT Prize in 1998 for his role as an inventor and innovator. He lives in Newton, Mass.

For additional information about the Draper Prize, contact Leila Rao, NAE awards administrator, at 202-334-1237 or visit the NAE Web site or contact Kathleen Granchelli, Communications Director, Draper Laboratory, at 617-258-2605