# 2364
ProMed Mail has the details on the passing of Dr. Graeme Laver, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Australian National University in Canberra and one of the giants of influenza research, in London at the age of 79.
Well-known Canberra scientist Graeme Laver has died in London at the age of 79. (ABC News, file photo)
Included in this obituary is a statement from Dr. Robert Webster.
OBITUARY: GRAEME LAVERA ProMED-mail post
<http://www.promedmail.org>
ProMED-mail is a program of the
International Society for Infectious Diseases
<http://www.isid.org>[1]
Date: 6 Oct 2008
Source: ABC News [edited]
<http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/06/2383122.htm>Well-known Canberra scientist Graeme Laver has died in London at the age of 79. Dr Laver researched the influenza virus for more than 30 years and helped develop the anti-flu drug Relenza. In 1996, Dr Laver was awarded the Australia Prize for excellence in the field of pharmaceutical design. [In addition to being awarded the Australia Prize, he was a member of the Royal Society of London]. Professor Adrian Gibbs worked with Dr Laver at the John Curtin School of Medical Research. "With the 2 vital discoveries that Graeme made, he really worked out the major foundation of influenza biology in that period of 20 years and how to control it," he said.
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Communicated by:
Robert G. Webster, PhD, FRS
Rose Marie Thomas Chair
Division of Virology
Department of Infectious Diseases
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
<robert.webster@stjude.org>******
[2]
Date: 6 Oct 2008
From: Robert Webster <robert.webster@stjude.org>Graeme Laver, the maverick of influenza research in Australia, was always prepared to challenge authorities. He established the
biochemical basis of antigenic drift and shift in seasonal and pandemic influenza viruses and played a key role in the development of the anti-influenza drug Relenza. It was Graeme's contention that antiviral drugs (Relenza and Tamiflu) should be available in everyone's medicine cabinet. His argument is that many will die in an influenza pandemic before available stockpiles could be distributed.
He also contended that those claiming that this would promote antiviral resistance have got it wrong!
In classical Graeme style, he finished his life with a great flourish while on his way to a scientific meeting on influenza in Portugal. The air traffic controllers cleared the air space over Heathrow so that he could receive rapid medical attention. We his friends all know that he would have reveled in the mayhem caused had he been aware of it.
--
Robert G. Webster, PhD, FRS
Rose Marie Thomas Chair
Division of Virology
Department of Infectious Diseases
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
<robert.webster@stjude.org>
..................................................msp/dk
As stated by Dr. Webster, he has been a strong advocate of allowing antivirals to be available without prescription (see It Takes A Worried Man To Sing A Worried Song).
Dr. Laver publically disagreed earlier this summer with the proposal of the HHS that antivirals be used prophylactically.
Prophylactic Use of Tamiflu Bad Idea, Leading Virologist Says
by Anthony L. Kimery
Tuesday, 10 June 2008
‘Early treatment is the only way to go’
The US government’s new proposal to use drugs like Tamiflu and Relenza as a prophylaxis to prevent infection by a pandemic strain of influenza is wrongheaded, says Dr. Graeme Laver, a former professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the John Curtin School of Medical Research at the Australian National University in Canberra.
Laver, who played a key role in the development of both drugs, has been studying influenza viruses for nearly 40 years. He and Dr. Robert Webster (another world-renowned virologist at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital) are credited with having first found the link between human flu and bird flu. In the 1960's, both received world acclaim when they developed a new and innovative generation of vaccines for flu viruses.
Laver told HSToday.us that “prophylaxis with Tamiflu in a pandemic is wrong. Early treatment is the only way to go.”
