Inside world-class scientific research

Alderley Park Discovered [Carnegie Publishing, 2016]: This beautiful coffee-table book by George readably tells unpublished (company authorised) real inside stories of medicinal research that touches us all. It is available from Carnegie and elsewhere, as a paper book, but not electronically (378 pages, c 400 colour illustrations) - click here.

The story begins with Alderley Park's early history under the famous Stanley of Alderley family, the Park's natural history and the estate, farm and woodland. Then I tell the fascinating history of ICI Pharmaceuticals Division from its foundation in 1936 and its wartime discoveries (Paludrine for malaria and penicillin synthesis), through to the opening of the world-class Mereside laboratories in the Park in 1957. My account of sixty years of medicinal research and development, as the company morphed into Zeneca then AstraZeneca, includes the real inside discovery stories of all the major and world-famous medicines researched at the Park. These include ones that someone in all of our families will have taken, including propanolol, atenolol, tamoxifen, goserelin, anastrozole, propofol and gefitinib plus the new lung cancer drug osimertinib. The Park is now a hub for Cancer Research UK and other urgent medicinal research, with great ongoing plans for the Park under its new owners, Manchester Science Partnerships.

My book's writing was generously supported by AstraZeneca and Manchester Science Partnerships and done with the help of many, many people.

A great read or gift for anyone who has known the Park or values its discoveries.