As the founder of Apotex, Canada's largest generic pharmaceutical manufacturer, Barry Sherman was a brilliant scientist with a dream and a purpose. He held a PhD in astrophysics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he obtained a gold medal for his academic achievements. Barry founded Apotex with a mission of improving access to medicines for millions of patients worldwide.
Barry’s children recently made a major gift in his honour to support leading Weizmann Institute scientists in their quest to develop optimal treatment regimens of universal importance to human health.
The Dr. Barry Sherman Institute for Medicinal Chemistry will facilitate and advance innovative ideas, empowering Weizmann scientists and leading to new options for future therapeutic treatments. Such an initiative is expected to have significant benefits for a range of diseases and disorders, including cancer, autoimmune, neurodegenerative, and infectious diseases.
Among the investigations that are expected to be undertaken at the Sherman Institute are efforts to develop new antibiotics so as to overcome the growing challenge of antibiotic resistance; harnessing plant metabolites for potential drugs, including an unprecedented method of bioengineering plants to generate L-DOPA, the leading drug for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease; and advancing the development of a promising, effective, and inexpensive anti-malaria drug compound.
Together with his wife, Honey, Barry was committed to making an impact through significant charitable initiatives. They began supporting the Weizmann Institute of Science in the early 1980s because they believed in the importance of basic scientific research for the benefit of humanity.
Barry was an outstanding scientist, and the field of medicinal chemistry was close to his heart. With this visionary gift, his legacy will live on in support of the Weizmann lnstitute’s cutting-edge research. We are extremely grateful.