Bruce D. Roth is an American organic and medicinal chemist who trained at Saint Joseph's College, Iowa State University and the University of Rochester, and, at the age of 32, discovered atorvastatin, the statin-class drug sold as Lipitor that would become the largest-selling drug in pharmaceutical history (as of 2003).
[1] He then went to Iowa State University as a doctoral student under George Kraus, receiving his Ph.D. in organic chemistry in 1981.
[citation needed] In 1982, 28-year-old Roth began work as a medicinal chemist for the Parke Davis research area of Warner-Lambert,[2][3] becoming the chemistry co-chair of the statins effort, with biologist Roger Newton, in 1984.
[clarification needed][4] In 1985, while working at Warner-Lambert's Parke-Davis research facility, Roth "identified a molecule" that inhibited HMG CoA reductase, a "key enzyme in the metabolic pathway the body uses to produce cholesterol.
[1][citation needed] According to the Chemical Heritage Foundation, in "addition to his discovery of atorvastatin, Roth is the inventor or co-inventor of 42 patents and the author or co-author of 48 manuscripts, 35 published abstracts and eight book chapters.