Janos Fischer is research laboratory head at Richter Ltd. (Budapest, Hungary). He received his education in Hungary with B.Sc. and P.h. D. degrees in organic chemistry at the Eotvos University of Budapest with Professor A. Kucsman. Between 1976-78 he was a Humboldt fellow at the University of Bonn with Professor W. Steglich. He has worked at Richter Ltd. since 1981 where he participated in the research and development of leading cardiovascular drugs in Hungary. His main interest now is analog-based drug discovery. He is author of some 100 patents and scientific publications. In 2004 he was elected member of the Chemistry and Human Health Division of IUPAC.

Robin Ganellin studied Chemistry at London University, receiving a PhD in 1958 under Professor Michael Dewar, and was a Research Associate at MIT with Arthur Cope in 1960. He then joined Smith Kline & French Laboratories in the UK and was one of the co-inventors of the revolutionary drug cimetidine (also known as Tagamet). In 1986 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society and appointed to the SK&F Chair of Medicinal Chemistry at University College London, where he is now Emeritus Professor of Medicinal Chemistry. Professor Ganellin is co-inventor on over 160 patents and has authored 250 scientific publications. He was President of the Medicinal Chemistry Section of IUPAC and is currently Chairman of the IUPAC Subcommittee on Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Development.