Perspectives in Health Magazine
The Magazine of the Pan American Health Organization
Volume 7, Number 1, 2002

Mexico's Pill Pioneer
by Gerald S. Cohen

An era ends

Rosenkranz holds the first box of Syntex's oral contraceptive "Norinyl" (Photo courtesy George Rosenkranz)

Rosenkranz successfully challenged the science community's heaviest hitters in the development of cortisone. He took on the social and religious critics of contraception with the development of the pill, thereby injecting a new sense of hope into desperately needed family planning initiatives in the developing world. He helped nurture a generation of leaders in chemical research and business in Mexico and the United States. By any measure, he not only achieved his dream of creating the Dupont of Mexico, but also helped heal countless people along the way.

Today, instead of reveling in the successes of the past, Rosenkranz is setting his sights on other challenges. He wants to participate in the deciphering of the human genome, to help establish Mexico as a force in this new frontier and to keep his hand in any number of business ventures that continue to swirl around him at a pace that would make a man 30 years his junior dizzy.

Indeed, anyone looking for the secret of eternal youth would be wise to consult Rosenkranz. Once a tennis and ski enthusiast, he continues to lift weights and work out twice a week at the gym. To keep mentally active, he treats his brain like any other muscle in his body. "The most important thing is mental exercise," he says. "According to the New England Journal of Medicine, the onset of Alzheimer's can be delayed by 10 years through strong intellectual activity."

So how does Rosenkranz (who speaks six languages) exercise his mind? "I'm still playing bridge, not as much as before, but better than ever," he says. Rosenkranz has authored 14 books on contract bridge and won 12 U.S. National Bridge Championships and some 100 Mexican National Championships playing against the likes of actor Omar Sharif, who once led the Egyptian team. He was inducted into the Bridge Hall of Fame in 2000 and recently wrote an article about how to cope with aging at the bridge table.

He also stays as close as he can to the rapidly changing world of scientific discovery by spending an hour a day on his home computer and reading scientific journals. His longtime friend and business associate Alex Zaffaroni, who founded his own tremendously successful drug delivery company, lives down the block in Palo Alto. Zaffaroni continues to bounce ideas off Rosenkranz, who plays the role of devil's advocate for Zaffaroni just as he did in Syntex's halcyon days.

Rosenkranz remains involved in scientific pursuits as a member of the board of Digital Gene Technologies Inc., of La Jolla, Calif., a company active in genomic research. It is through DGT that Rosenkranz has exercised his interest in what he is sure is the next great frontier of scientific discovery. To position Mexico for a new era, Rosenkranz has successfully encouraged the government to develop a new authority dedicated to promoting genomic research. The authority will include the Ministry of Health.

He also is working teaming up with another former Syntex colleague from his Syntex days in a Menlo Park, Calif.,new venture called Pherin Pharmaceuticals. The company that is experimenting with a class of compounds called pheromones, which may have potential for treating a number of central nervous system disorders. With a trace of amusement, Rosenkranz notes that he synthesized the first compound of this class about 50 years ago. "Thus my scientific life built on steroids has come full circle," he says.

All this keeps a man who has authored more than 150 publications and whose name is on 143 patents going at a steady pace, even in his 80s. "I have a tremendous intellectual curiosity and I am interested in everything," he says. Asked if now might be the time at least to start thinking about retirement, he answers firmly, almost defiantly, "I won't retire--ever!"

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