Guy Henry Faget (1891–1947) was an American medical doctor who revolutionalized the treatment of leprosy, by demonstrating the efficacy of promin, as described in a paper published in 1943.
Promin is a sulfone compound, synthesized by Feldman and his co-workers in 1940, which is a chemotherapeutic agent that was determined to be effective against tuberculosis in experimental animals.
He was a member of the International Leprosy Association (ILA) and a consultant to the Advisory Medical Board of LWM.
In its conclusions, they clearly wrote that sulfanilamide cannot be regarded as a curative agent for leprous lesions, either of the macular or lepromatous type.
It is hoped that further synthesis of sulfa compound may produce a substance which will succeed in saving countless lives in this still dark field of medicine.The following papers are based on a Japanese Book Nihon Hifuka Zensho 9,1, "Leprosy"[4] This is a message of Faget to leprosy patients which was printed in the Christmas number of the 1941 Star, and therefore is considered to directly address patients for participation in the promin trial.
Let us have courage; We are making strides forward and upward, out of the valley of darkness, over the mountains of difficulties, and into the sunshiny plains of tomorrow.His discovery paved the way to the complete recovery of leprosy, and many effective chemotherapeutic agents followed.
He was honored postmortem at the 7th International Congress of Leprology in Tokyo in 1958 and at the centennial celebration of the Hansen's Disease Center at Carville in 1994.