Career
Dr Yellapragada SubbaRow, India born biochemist turned wizard of wonder drugs, made it possible for millions to live longer a more satisfying life because of the folic acid vitamin, the tetracycline antibiotics, an anti‑filarial and anti‑cancer drugs he developed between 1940 and 1948 as research director of Lederle Laboratories in USA.
He was a brahmin boy who sought his prime motive in religion but found it in science. His quest for life‑saving drugs took him to Harvard. There the quest was interrupted by basic research into the mystery how life is fuelled by biochemical energy. His quest was resumed and fulfilled in the pharmaceutical laboratory.
On his death, The New York Herald‑Tribune hailed him as "one of the most eminent medical minds of the century". The Jewish Advocate remembered him as "a giant among pygmies".