J. Jean Cui

J. Jean Cui, Ph.D. is a renowned oncology drug designer with more than 20 years of experience in drug discovery and project management at Big Pharma and biotech companies (Pfizer, Pharmacia/SUGEN, etc.). Jean is the lead inventor of Pfizer’s precision oncology medicine, crizotinib, brand named XALKORI®. She created the drug’s novel chemical scaffold based on co-crystal structure and designed the final clinical compound crizotinib. XALKORI® was fast track approved by US Food and Drug Administration on August 26, 2011 for ALK positive late stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In addition to the invention of crizotinib, Jean worked on several other oncology projects, including SUTENT®. She also created the clinical c-MET specific inhibitor PF-04217903 and designed the ALK second generation clinical compound PF-06463922. Her exceptional achievements in drug discovery and development have earned her many prestigious awards which include: the 38th National Inventor of the Year by Intellectual Property Owners’ Association (2011); Woman Worth Watching by Diversity Journal (2012); American Chemical Society Hero of Chemistry (2013); Pfizer Worldwide R&D Achievement Awards (2006 and 2012); Pfizer Innovation Award (2011); CABS K. Fong Award for Life Sciences (2013). Her story of crizotinib invention was featured in a Wall Street Journal article titled “Drug Discovery Gets an Upgrade” on April 16, 2012.