Born near Glasgow, Black received a scholarship to study medicine at St Andrews, graduating in 1946 with his MBChB. He developed an interest in physiology and pharmacology while working at the University of Glasgow’s veterinary school. To realise his ideas for a new drug, Black left academia for the pharmaceutical industry.

Propranolol

 In 1962, he invented propanolol, a beta blocker that blocks adrenaline, reducing the stress response on the heart. Propanolol was the first commercially-successful beta blocker to treat coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, and heart failure.

Cimetidine

Black applied the same drug design method to the treatment of stomach ulcers. He invented cimetidine, the first of a new class of drugs, H2 blockers, suppressing stomach acid production. It was the first non-surgical treatment for stomach ulcers.

Nobel Prize

 He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1988 for his ‘rational drug design’ approach, also known as reverse pharmacology.

In his Nobel lecture, Black emphasised ‘the intimate coupling of clinical experience and pharmacological modelling’. The propranolol and cimetidine projects ‘both started from well-recognised clinical problems at a time when they could be illuminated by specific hypothetical modelling at the laboratory level’.

In 1992, he became Chancellor of the University of Dundee. His presence shaped the university’s commitment to interdisciplinary life sciences and drug discovery. A portrait of Black hangs in the Booth Lecture Theatre.

James Black profoundly impacted medicine and pharmacology, developing two of the most widely used drugs today. His approach won him the Nobel Prize in 1988.