MEDIA CENTER
Judah Folkman, Pioneering Cancer Researcher

Pioneering cancer researcher Judah Folkman died on 14 January 2008 at the age of 74. Folkman was best known for his work developing theories about the role of angiogenesis (blood vessel formation) in cancer and treatments based on these theories. Beyond these profoundly important scientific endeavors, he was a true renaissance man. His insights into the diffusion of substances out of plastic, and his generosity in waiving royalty rights for his patent on this technology, made possible many of the Population Council’s long-term contraceptive products, beginning with Norplant®, and including Jadelle®, the Mirena® intrauterine system, and our contraceptive vaginal ring, currently in clinical trials.

This excerpt from Under the Banyan Tree—the memoir of Sheldon J. Segal, Population Council Distinguished Scientist—describes Folkman’s contributions to the Council’s work.

Folkman discovered that oil-soluble dyes slowly diffuse out of Silastic (a Dow-Corning medical-grade plastic). I immediately thought, if oil soluble dyes, why not oil-soluble hormones? I could envision a system placed subdermally that would slowly release a steroid hormone and serve as a long-acting contraceptive. . . . The development of subdermal implants took the cooperation of some key individuals. One was Folkman, whose patent on the principle of steroid diffusion through Silastic had been assigned to the Dow-Corning Company. He willingly agreed to waive royalty rights for any product that might come out of the Population Council’s work . . . because of his respect for our work around the world.

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Related Project

• One-year Combination Vaginal Ring

See Also

• Population Council Contraceptives on the Market

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