The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 264 No 7085p318
February 26, 2000 News

Three new "Square" fellows

Three alumni of the School of Pharmacy, University of London, were honoured with fellowship of the school at a dinner on February 17. The three new fellows are Dr Philip Brown (founder of PJB Publications, publisher of Scrip), Professor Michael Newton (head of the school's department of pharmaceutics) and Mr Ainley Wade (editor of Martindale's 27th edition and former general editor of the Pharmaceutical Society's scientific publications).

Left to right: Mike Newton, Philip Brown, Sandy Florence and Ainley Wade

Speaking at the dinner, the dean of the school (Professor Sandy Florence) said that Dr Brown had graduated from the school in 1959 and gone on to become a schoolteacher "to escape Her Majesty's Armed Forces". He had then gone to Cambridge for a PhD on fluorocitric acid, a potent Krebs cycle inhibitor, his final year being funded by the Society. After a period as a Daily Express science reporter, he had moved to Sterling Winthrop in a position that included editing the company's weekly newsletter. That had been followed by pharmaceutical advertising with a subsidiary of J. Walter Thompson.
Philip Brown had founded PJB Publications in 1976. The company now employed 260 people - mainly in Surrey but also in New York. Scrip was read by 7,000 pharmaceutical companies world-wide and the company also served the veterinary industry with Animal Pharm and the agrochemical industry with Agro.
Since joining the school's council in 1991, Dr Brown had taken a close interest in the welfare of the school. He had recently become chairman of the council.
Turning to the second new fellow, the dean said that, after graduating from the school, Mike Newton had opted for a PhD in Nottingham "rather than face the barrack square". He had then sampled several schools of pharmacy and the industry. He had been head of the department of pharmacy at Chelsea from 1979 until his return to the "Square". The field in which he had laboured was that of pharmaceutical technology, but in his 15 years as head of the school's department of pharmaceutics he had nurtured more than technology, and in particular had supported the establishment of the centre for the study of pharmacy practice.
Mike Newton's enormous talent for pharmaceutical technology had been recognised by the award of an honorary doctorate of the University of Uppsala and a higher doctorate of the University of London. He had also been a Harrison memorial medallist and a Japanese Nagai Foundation distinguished lecturer.
Mike Newton had served on the Medicines Commission and for many years on the chemistry, pharmacy and standards subcommittee of the Committee on Safety of Medicines.
Ainley Wade, said the dean, had graduated BPharm from the School of Pharmacy in 1957 and had gone on to gain a masters degree from Chelsea. Unlike the other new fellows, he had failed to avoid the army. His early pharmaceutical career had been with the British Drug Houses, but he had been encouraged to join Martindale, where, after a series of promotions, he had been appointed as the youngest ever editor in 1972. He had edited the 27th edition, published in 1977, and had then been appointed general editor of scientific publications - a post that would see his name appear on many other prestigious title pages.
Ainley Wade's influence had been widespread in both pharmacy and medicine, and his contributions had helped to make the publications of the Society's Pharmaceutical Press known and respected world-wide.