Alex Matter

Biography

  Dr Matter is best known for his contribution to the development of Glivec/Gleevec, one of the world’s first tyrosine kinase inhibitor drugs for cancer therapy. He led a team of around 200 scientists at Novartis to discover and optimize the lead compound, bringing it all the way through its first clinical trial in 1998. In a short span of 3 years, Gleevec was given a rare, fast track FDA approval in 2001.Prior to ETC, Dr Matter was the founding director for the Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (NITD) in 2003. Under his leadership, NITD successfully implemented research programs in the areas of dengue fever, tuberculosis and malaria attracting major grants from the Bill&Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust.A medical doctor by training, Dr. Matter received his medical degree from the University of Basel and did immunology and pathology research in Switzerland, Britain, France and the US before entering into the pharmaceutical industry. He has published more than 100 scientific articles plus several book chapters in the area of oncology and hematology. He is the recipient of the 13th Warren-Alpert prize and the AACR-Bruce F. Cain Memorial Award.  

Research Interest

 Oncology and hematology, Drug discovery and optimization of lead compound