CANTON -- The next Science Café event will be "How Are Drugs Invented and Why is the Process So Expensive?" with Dr. Omar Stradella on Tuesday, Oct. 23 in Canton and Wednesday, Oct. 24 in Potsdam.

Stradella is the associate scientific director of Translational Sciences at Sanofi S.A. (a French multinational pharmaceutical company).

Since ancient times, natural materials (minerals, plants and animals) have been known to be useful in the treatment of illnesses, but only with Paul Ehrlich’s development of the “magic bullet” concept, in the early 1900s, did we realize that drugs could be invented, not only discovered.

Science and technology led the way to the modern, rational drug design process, allowing the treatment of many diseases that were previously untreatable. But the road to a successfully marketed drug is still paved with many failures.

Join Dr. Omar Stradella, associate scientific director of translational sciences at Sanofi S.A., in a discussion on the history of drug discovery and invention, the basics of modern drug design and the economics of the process.

Science Cafés are free public forum featuring talks by local North Country scientists and science aficionados.

The events are held at 7:15 p.m. on Tuesdays at the Best Western University Inn in Canton and on Wednesdays at Jernabi's Coffeehouse, 11 Maple St., in Potsdam.

Info: sciencecafe@clarkson.edu, aschreiber@stlawu.edu.