Biography
Professor Emeritus Harkishan Singh
Professor Harkishan Singh, (25th November 1928 - 20th March 2020) was Professor Emeritus at the Panjab University (Chandigarh, India), is a well recognized pharmaceutical academic, medicinal chemistry researcher and a science historian. He has experience of over half a century to his credit. He has worked at the Banaras Hindu University, University of Saugar and Punjab University in India, and abroad at the University of Maryland, University of Mississippi and the University of London.
His scientific research has been in organic chemistry, medical chemistry and natural products. Nearly 50 master and doctoral theses have been completed under his supervision. There have been published 125 original scientific research papers. 14 patents have been obtained. His research group has been successful in designing a clinically useful drug candocuronium iodide (INN) (chandonium iodide, HS-310), which is a synthetic azasteroid. Dr Singh has lectured on his research at several of the institutions and conferences in India, United States of America, Canada, United Kingdom, Switzerland and China. He delivered invited lectures at the Harvard School of Medicine and at the International Symposium on Molecular Structure sponsored by the International Union of Crystallography at Beijing.
As a science historian Professor Singh has examined the history of pharmaceutical developments in India of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His history research studies have been on pharmacopoeias and formularies,
pharmaceutical education, pharmacy practice, biographies of pharmaceutical luminaries, and pharmaceutical journalism. He has published over eighty articles.
All told his total publications come to well over 350, including eighteen books. Selected publications are listed later.
Professor Singh has been on many academic, scientific, professional and governmental bodies. He was a member of the Committee on International Education of Medicinal Chemists of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, which prepared the Report on the International Education of Medicinal Chemists (IUPAC Technical Reports Number 13; 1974).
His affiliations with several scientific and professional organizations include emeritus membership of the American Chemical Society, life memberships of the Indian Pharmaceutical Association and Association of Pharmaceutical Teachers of India, and memberships of the American Institute of History of Pharmacy and British Society for History of Pharmacy.
Professor Harkishan Singh was a recipient of several scientific and professional awards and recognitions. He has been a National Fellow of the University Grants Commission, New Delhi. He has been General President of the Indian Pharmaceutical Congress. He received Eminent Pharmacist Award of the Indian Pharmaceutical Association. Lifetime achievement awards have been conferred on him by several bodies; the recent one is the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Punjab Academy of Sciences. Dr Singh's standing as historian has been recognized through his election to the Academie Internationale d'Histoire de la Pharmacie. The University of the Sciences in Philadelphia conferred upon Professor Harkishan Singh the degree of Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) in recognition of his distinguished academic career and outstanding contributions to scientific research in organic and medicinal chemistry and the history of pharmacy.
Candocuronium (Chandonium), A Neuromuscular Blocker Discovery
*The research papers and reviews marked with asterisk under Medicinal Chemistry and Allied Fields refer to synthetic azasteroidal neuromuscular blockers and related aspects. A new neuromuscular blocker, initially named as Chandonium Iodide, was designed and synthesized by the research group of Professor Harkishan Singh at the Panjab University, Chandigarh. The pharmacological testing was carried out at the University at Strathclyde. The toxicity studies at the Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, did not reveal any adverse effects. The clinical studies were also successfully completed through the CDRI. The proceedings of the symposium on the clinical testing on Chandonium Iodide were published in the Journal of Anaesthesiology and Clinical Pharmacology, 10, 109-151 (1994). The drug was cleared by the Ministry of Health, Government of India, for manufacturing and clinical use. The World Health Organization gave to the drug the INN designation Candocuronium Iodide. The drug is a potent non-depolarizing neuromuscular blocker with short duration of action. The injections can be sterilized by autoclaving. The preparation can be stored at room temperature without any loss of activity.
