Technion Board Celebrates Azilect

Azilect: A Scientific-medical Breakthrough

The Board of Governors events began on Saturday night with a festive reception hosted by Technion President Prof. Lavie and his wife, Dr. Lena Lavie, in honor of the hundreds of participants. The event was attended by Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav; Chairman of the Technion Executive Council Gideon Frank; Technion alumnus and entrepreneur Dr. Yossi Vardi; Shmuel (“Mooly”) Eden, former Executive Vice President of Intel International and President of Intel Israel and currently senior adviser to Bank Hapoalim; Rambam Medical Center Director General Prof. Rafi Beyar; Broadcom Vice President Dr Shlomo Markel; 2015 Harvey Prize winners Prof. Immanuel Bloch and Prof. Marc Kirschner; businessman and philanthropist Norman Seiden; members of the Technion’s Board and Executive Council; former Technion Presidents; faculty deans and many others.

Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie (left) awarding Prof. Emeritus Moussa Youdim (center) and Prof. Emeritus John Finberg (right) a token of appreciation from the Technion

The main event of the opening night was a special tribute to the developers of the drug Azilect, for treatment of Parkinson’s disease: Prof. Emeritus Moussa Youdim and Prof. Emeritus John Finberg.

In the 1970s, Youdim and Finberg developed a drug called Rasagiline, which was found to be effective in preventing the death of neurons in the brain. This development led to the development of the drug Azilect by Teva Pharmaceuticals.

Teva President and CEO Erez Vigodman sent the two scientists a special letter of appreciation. He wrote: “The event taking place tonight is commensurate, in its importance and prestige, with the magnitude of the achievement that you are celebrating. Prof. Youdim and Prof. Finberg, you should be proud of your work, which has alleviated the suffering of many patients and that has provided good days for thousands of people living in the shadow of this disease. The success of drugs such as Azilect and Copaxone indicates the tremendous potential inherent in strong relationships between academia and industry.  Joining forces and focusing on the task at hand gives us the power to change the course of history.”

“Every university has its own Hall of Fame for groundbreaking research and significant discoveries,” said Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie. “Azilect has pride of place in the the Technion Hall of Fame.” President Lavie gave the two men a special token of appreciation from the Technion in recognition of their work.