From the December 2015 issue of HealthCare Business News magazine
Although Herrick’s operation went well, Murray and his team still faced the problem of organ rejection among non-related patients. The physicians tried various strategies, such as X-rays and drugs to suppress the immune system to prevent the body from rejecting the new organ. For years, nothing the physicians tried worked, but Murray was encouraged to continue searching for a solution by the hospital’s clinical staff and leadership.
In 1962, the physicians finally had a breakthrough. Murray’s team partnered with Burroughs-Wellcome, a company that developed Imuran, a drug aimed at helping the body accept an organ transplant. The drug was successfully tested on a patient named Mel Doucette, who received a kidney donation from a stranger. The drug paved the way for additional research and other organ transplantation procedures.
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Murray’s pioneering research and work earned him a 1990 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Later, Murray told a relative that he believed he didn’t really have to work to win the Nobel Prize — he was just doing what was right for his patients. Thanks to the perseverance of Murray and his team, nearly 17,000 Americans safely undergo a kidney transplantation procedure every year. The organ can come from an unrelated, or even a deceased donor, and add years to another person’s life.
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