Michael Smith was a British biochemist associated with BELRA (now LEPRA). He worked on leprosy research in Kenya, Nigeria, India, and Malaysia.
His publications in Leprosy Review in 1949 were the result of a study conducted with Dr John Lowe in Uzuakoli. In these publications he claims that the proprietary sulphones, by any method of administration, act by the release of basic diphenylsulphone. In the “Sulphones at the Cross Roads” editorial Gordon Ryrie questions the implications of this, writing “If so, have the various modifications of the original drug no special benefit apart from acting as diluents, or possibly detoxicants, of the effective basic substance? The future of leprosy therapy and, to some extent, of leprosy control, depends on the answer to these questions.”
Treatment Used/Researched:
Sulphones
Research Institute(s) associated with:
East African Leprosy Research Centre, Itesio, Kenya
Biochemist at East African Leprosy Research Centre, Kenya
A Pharmacological Study of Three Sulphones Part I and II Leprosy Review 20.3 and 4 (1949).