STERNBACH'S FORMULA FOR SUCCESS was neither secret nor magic. It included, first of all, a fascination with chemistry. Then add appropriate dashes of target-setting, homework, orthodox scientific procedure, serendipity, intuition, patience, inspiration, teamwork and sheer doggedness. It has done more than make his career in medicinal chemistry an extremely productive one. It made him a major contributor in the rise of the pharmaceutical business to the major niche it occupies today in the field of medicine.
DR. STERNBACH, THE RESEARCH CHEMIST who spearheaded the development of Librium, Valium, and at least 11 other therapeutic products marketed around the world from the 1950s on, ranks as one of the leading innovators during an age of outstanding pharmacological innovation.
Although he formally retired from the laboratories of Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. (Roche) in 1973, until 2003, Dr. Sternbach went to his office in Nutley, NJ practically every day, as a consultant to the Swiss-based multinational giant. When the much-acclaimed inventor was asked why he continued to go into his office he would remark, "I like to keep up with what is going on – not only in chemistry, but in the world."
From an economic standpoint, Dr. Sternbach's accomplishments made him a legendary figure at Roche, a company founded in Basel, Switzerland, in the 1890s for the sole purpose of producing innovative pharmaceuticals of uniform quality and composition. Valium, marketed in 1963, rocketed to the position of "largest selling pharmaceutical in the world." He was a familiar figure at the U.S. headquarters in Nutley, where employees still refer to the 14-story research facility where his office was as "the house that Leo built." Products hatched by his discoveries still sell. As recently as 1994, products with the name "Sternbach" on their patents accounted for 28% of the company's worldwide pharmaceutical sales.
The Austrian-born chemist, however, had been strictly science-oriented rather than economics-oriented throughout his career. "We want to make a difference in people's lives," he would say. "Medicine has come a long way, but the needs are still enormous."
Upon hearing of Dr. Sternbach's passing, George Abercrombie, president and CEO of Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., the U.S. pharmaceuticals headquarters in Nutley, NJ, noted, "Within every company, there are one or two people whose legacy becomes the hallmark of what the company is all about. For Roche, that is Dr. Sternbach. He was a unique individual with a demonstrated passion for science -- he was an inventor's inventor."
STERNBACH'S LIFE... Leo Henryk Sternbach was born on May 7, 1908, into a European world that would soon cease to exist. His Polish father and his Hungarian mother were inhabitants of the Austrian Empire, an obsolete conglomeration of peoples and languages. And here, ironically, was ignited the world war that wiped it from the map.
Abbazia, the town where Leo was born, is today part of Croatia. Then it was in Austria, not far from the Italian border. It was a picturesque place that even Franz Joseph I, the last Austrian emperor, found charming. Here Leo got his early schooling and an even richer education in the changing tides of social and political fortune.
Leo's father, Michael Abraham Sternbach, came south from the Polish sector of the Empire to open his first pharmacy in Abbazia. There he met a young lady named Piroska Cohn, who was spending her summer vacation at her Hungarian grandmother's villa in Abbazia. They fell in love.
Dr. Sternbach remarked on the moment: "My father went to Hungary to be introduced to the family, which was very upset that a member of their clan would marry a Polish Jew -- a member of the lowest class. My father, however, must have convinced them that he was not so bad, and they got married."
In the social and political chaos that followed the war, Michael Abraham Sternbach began to plan for a better life. He had relatives and connections in Krakow, Poland, and in 1926 he was able to open a pharmacy there and move his little family. Leo had already begun the equivalent of high school in Bielsko, Poland. He then studied pharmacy and chemistry at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, where he earned a master's in pharmacy in 1929 and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 1931.
The young chemist remained in Krakow until 1937 as research assistant to Professor K. Dziewonski. After a brief stopover in Vienna, where he fulfilled a grant in colloidal chemistry, he went to Zurich as an associate of Professor L. Ruzicka at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. This was a period of practical and academic growth for the young scientist. Here, too, he met his future wife, Herta Kreuzer, his landlady's daughter. In 1940 he joined F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd in Basel, Switzerland, as senior research chemist. His first assignment was the technical synthesis of the vitamin riboflavin.
Anti-Semitism in Europe had been growing since the end of World War I. For a Jew, there were minefields lurking before all the avenues of life fulfillment. At the beginning of World War II, Switzerland was already harboring more refugees than it could handle. Emil Christoph Barell, the head of Roche, told Sternbach that Roche had hired him with transfer to the U.S. in mind. The company provided invaluable help with the documentary and travel arrangements.
Further complications were presented by the decision of Leo and Herta to marry. Herta, a Christian, on marrying Leo, would lose her Swiss citizenship. As Leo was then a Polish citizen, that is what she, too, became. They were married twice, first, before a justice of the peace, second, in a Protestant church. Leo and Herta Sternbach escaped the European maelstrom via France (though now occupied by Germans) and Portugal. The key document was the Swiss passport, which did not list the nationality or the religion of the bearer.
The escape was a complex story in itself, but suffice it to say, they were fortunate enough to make it safely through. They embarked from Lisbon in June 1941 and disembarked in Jersey City, where they were met by representatives from Roche.
The company was opening a new chemical laboratory in Nutley. Sternbach's first report, dated August 4, 1941, provided suggestions on how to furnish and operate a laboratory. Then, working largely alone at first, he embarked on a spectacular career in chemical research distinguished by 241 patents, 122 publications, six monographs and multiple honors.
Sternbach was motivated by research, not by the prospect of executive promotion with the research hierarchy. "There was a period when I was in the wilderness, so to speak, due to office politics," he admitted. But as his output became more and more productive for the company, his resources and his research independence were naturally enhanced. By the mid-1960s, he had plenty of help: a team of about 20 PhDs, plus junior chemists and clerical assistants working on projects he directed. Among his colleagues were Dr. Lowell Randall and Earl Reeder, who are also credited with the invention of Valium.
Most of the Sternbach breakthroughs involved the central nervous system – a result of his pioneering experimentation in a class of drug known as the benzodiazepines. Valium, Librium, Quarzan (clidinium bromide), Mogadon (nitrazepam) and Klonopin (clonazepam) are examples of products that have emerged from his laboratory for various uses: tranquilizers, anticonvulsants, hypnotics, anticholinergics. His first accomplishment, in the 1940s, was the synthesis of biotin, a vitamin of the B class. He also developed Arfonad (trimetaphan camsilate) for minimizing bleeding during surgery on the central nervous system.
And while not gaining the attention his psychiatric work engendered, he made major, if less dramatic, contributions in the anti-infective and vitamin areas. As a scientist, he made important contributions to the field of heterocyclic chemistry, in which atoms of more than one kind are combined in a molecular ring.
Whenever asked to comment on his motivation during his career, Sternbach would say, "It has brought me great comfort to know that I could, in some way, help people feel better. Being a chemist, I spent most of my life working in a laboratory, hoping that I could make a difference. Knowing that Valium has positively impacted the lives of millions of Americans, and that my research has paved the way for other such discoveries, is one of the most rewarding experiences of my life."
The honors that have been heaped upon Sternbach come from a variety of institutions and organizations. They include honorary degrees from the Technical University of Vienna, Austria, Centenary College in Hackettstown, NJ, and the Goethe University of Frankfurt, Germany; citations from the American Chemical Society, the American Institute of Chemists, the German Pharmaceutical Society, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, UNICO, the cities of Philadelphia, Milan, Italy, and Krakow; "Inventor of the Year" honors from both New Jersey and New York and in 2005, Sternbach was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, OH. Roche and Yale University established an annual "Leo H. Sternbach Lectureship," and Roche dedicated a Leo H. Sternbach Library in the Chemistry department in Nutley, NJ.
Sternbach was pleased that the compounds he created made a real difference in people's lives, and proud that they made a major contribution to the success of Roche. But he was always happiest in his laboratory, practicing the science -- and the art -- of chemistry. As he put it, "I was successful because I loved my work and was completely dedicated, like any true artist."
A devoted family man, Sternbach lived with his wife, Herta, in Upper Montclair, NJ, from 1943 to 2003 in the house where they raised their two sons, Michael, a recently retired sales representative for Roche, and Daniel, who works as a chemist for GlaxoSmithKline in North Carolina. The Sternbachs moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 2004.
Dr. Sternbach is survived by his wife, Herta, sons Michael and Daniel and their respective wives Rosemary and Wivi, as well as five grandchildren.
ABOUT ROCHE – MORE THAN A CENTURY IN THE U.S. AND THE WORLD... Founded in 1896 and headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world's leading innovation-driven healthcare groups. Its core businesses are pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is one of the world's leaders in diagnostics, the leading supplier of pharmaceuticals for cancer, as well as a leader in virology and transplantation. As a supplier of products and services for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, the Group contributes on many fronts to improve people's health and quality of life. Roche employs roughly 65,000 people in 150 countries, including approximately 15,000 in the United States.
Roche's U.S. operations celebrate their American Centennial in 2005. In another milestone this year, Roche was named in January to Fortune magazine's list of Best Companies to Work for in America. One of an increasingly rare breed of major healthcare companies that still bear their original name, Roche today has more than a dozen U.S. sites located in California, Colorado, Indiana, New Jersey and South Carolina, as well as in Puerto Rico. Roche has alliances and research and development agreements with numerous partners, including majority ownership interests in Genentech and Chugai. Roche's Pharmaceuticals Division offers a portfolio of leading medicines in therapeutic areas including cancer, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, transplantation, dermatology and influenza. Roche's Diagnostics Division supplies a wide array of innovative testing products and services to researchers, physicians, patients, hospitals and laboratories world-wide.