Bernard Belleau

Dr. Bernard Belleau (March 15, 1925 – September 4, 1989) was a Canadian moloecular pharmacologist best known for his role in the discovery of Lamivudine, a drug used in the treatment of HIV and Hepatitis B infection.

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Born in Montreal, Quebec, he gained his B.Sc. (1947) and M.Sc. (1948) from the Université de Montréal and his PhD in 1950 at McGill University. After various academic research postings in the U.S. and Canada he became Professor of Chemistry at the University of Ottawa in 1961. He moved to McGill University in 1971. Belleau worked in the 1960s and 1970s on research programs with Bristol Laboratories, one of which led to the non-narcotic analgesic Butorphanol. In the mid-1980s he helped found what became the biotech company BioChem Pharma. Just prior to his death in 1989 he laid the foundations for Lamivudine's development.

In 1981, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 1978, he was awarded the Quebec government's Prix Marie-Victorin. In 1979, he was awarded the Royal Society of Canada's McLaughlin Medal. In 2000, he was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame.