With Miguel A. Ondetti, he won the 1999 Lasker Award for: "developing an innovative approach to drug design based on protein structure and using it to create the ACE inhibitors, powerful oral agents for the treatment of high blood pressure, heart failure, and diabetic kidney disease.
"[2] In high school, Dr. Cushman didn't have a drive or reason to succeed academically until he found a class he enjoyed because of the teacher.
[4] Dr. Cushman says captopril's significance from a basic research point of view is that it was developed through pure chemical design.
He credits Dr. John Vane with suggesting angiotensin converting enzyme as a target for research at The Squibb Institute.
It was stated that the captopril is "an oral drug that significantly reduces hypertension in more than eighty percent of users and has no side effects on the central or autonomic nervous systems.