Hershel Herzog, a former pharmaceutical executive instrumental in developing several popular antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs, has died at age 74.
Mr. Herzog died Aug. 4 in his daughter’s Coopersburg, Pa., home south of Allentown. The cause of death was Lou Gehrig’s disease, said his daughter, Laura Herzog.
Mr. Herzog received his bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering at the University of Illinois in 1944, graduating summa cum laude. After he received his master’s degree and doctorate from the University of Southern California, he went to work for E.R. Squibb & Sons.
But it was not until 1950, when he joined Schering Corp., now known as Schering-Plough, that his skill in the laboratory would pay enormous dividends. Seeking to improve methods of hydrocortisone synthesis, Mr. Herzog was part of a team that developed prednisone and presnisolone, two anti-inflammatory drugs.
The two drugs established Schering as a leader in the category. Schering reported $45.9 million in sales in 1955, with $20 million of that amount from prednisone. Two years later, total revenues topped $80 million.
Mr. Herzog also was part of the team in the early 1960s that developed gentamicin, an antibiotic used to treat eye, ear and skin infections.
Mr. Herzog, who spent 32 years at Schering, was appointed senior vice president of drug development in 1977 and remained in that post until he retired in early 1983.
Among his survivors are two daughters and a son.
