We are sad to announce that Prof. Ferid Murad (Nobel Laureate), a great friend of Bentham Science, passed away on the 4th of September, 2023, at his home in Menlo Park, Calif. He was 86. Prof. Murad was the senior scientific advisor to "Current Medicinal Chemistry", "Current Organic Chemistry", and "Current Alzheimer Research", being published by Bentham Science Publishers, and a special issue of Current Medicinal Chemistry was published in his honour in Volume-23, No.24, (2016).

Prof. Ferid Murad shared a Nobel Prize in 1998 for discovering that nitric oxide plays a key role in relaxing blood vessels. This important discovery led to the treatment of heart disease, erectile dysfunction, and other health conditions. Dr. Murad was working at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston when he won the 1998 Nobel in Physiology or Medicine. He shared the Nobel Prize with Robert F. Furchgott of the State University of New York at Brooklyn and Louis Ignarro of the University of California at Los Angeles. 

Dr. Murad discovered the effects of nitric oxide when he began studying nitroglycerin in the 1970s. This is the substance that Alfred Nobel used in dynamite and introduced the Nobel Prize under his name in 1867. 

Dr. Murad discovered that nitroglycerin releases nitric oxide, which relaxes smooth muscle cells. Dr. Murad's discovery led to the development of Viagra, which helps produce erections by dilating blood vessels. Nitric oxide is also employed in helping premature babies suffering from breathing difficulties and has found wide use in the treatment of other lung and cardiovascular diseases. 

Dr. Ferid Murad was born in Whiting, Ind., on Sept. 14, 1936. His father was an Albanian immigrant, and his mother owned a restaurant. As a boy, Dr. Murad worked long hours in the restaurant, washing dishes, taking orders and serving food. Dr. Murad graduated from the University in Greencastle, Ind., in 1958 and received his medical degree and doctorate in pharmacology from Western Reserve University in Cleveland (later Case Western Reserve University) in 1965. He also worked at the University of Virginia, the University of Texas Health Science Center, the National Institutes of Health, Stanford University, George Washington University, and Abbott Laboratories. He also founded Molecular Geriatrics, a biotechnology company.

Dr. Murad is survived by his wife, a son, four daughters, and nine grandchildren.