Marc Feldmann

Professor Sir Marc Feldmann, AC FAA FRS FRCP FRCPath FMedSci is a pre-eminent immunologist, and an Emeritus professor at the University of Oxford.

At the Kennedy Institute in London in the 1980s, he identified TNF as a target in the treatment of arthritis. With his research partner, Prof Sir Ravinder Maini, they led clinical trials of monoclonal antiTNF antibody in treatment resistant rheumatoid arthritis, which Centocor had generated, and now called Infliximab, which J&J now sells as Remicade.

This work was highly recognized, leading to many prestigious awards including the Crafoord prize of the Royal Swedish Academy, the Albert Lasker award for clinical medical research, the Canada Gairdner award, the Paul Janssen award and the European Inventor of the year award, and most recently (2020) the Tang Prize.

Remicade was the main driver of the $4.9 billion USD acquisition of Centocor by Johnson and Johnson in 1998. Since its approval Remicade has sold over $50 billion USD worldwide, and remains J&J’s biggest selling drug. Feldmann and Maini are credited for the generation of anti-TNFs as the world’s biggest drug class since 2013, with global sales of $36 to 40 Bn in recent years. This major impact on medical therapy led to his receiving a knighthood and also the Australian equivalent, Companion of the Order of Australia ( AC ).

Sir Marc Feldmann is a fellow of the Royal Society, Australian Academy of Science and a Foreign Member of the National Academy of Sciences, USA.