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2006Medicine

The US approves Azilect, a Parkinson's drug developed at the Technion with Teva.

The FDA approves the tablets on 16 May 2006, 25 years after the researchers knew they had an effective drug.

The story in numbers.

  • 25years

    from 1981 to FDA approval

    SourceTechnion

  • ≈800

    articles on the brain and nervous system, by Youdim

    SourceTechnion

Here is how it happened.

  • 1972

    A young pharmacologist first hears about selegiline.

    Moussa Youdim, born in Tehran and trained in England and Canada, learns of a drug developed by the Hungarian scientist Joseph Knoll. He later visits Budapest to collect a sample.

    SourceTechnion

  • A tall pale stone tower of stepped floors rising above a wide staircase, under a deep blue sky

    1975 to 1977

    He moves to the Technion to continue his research.

    On a visit in 1975 he hears that the medical faculty needs a pharmacologist to set up a department. In 1977 he immigrates to Israel to keep working on selegiline.

    SourceTechnion

  • By 1981

    Youdim and Finberg develop a Parkinson's drug with Teva.

    Professor John Finberg is his colleague at the Technion. By 1981 they know they have an effective treatment for Parkinson's.

    SourceTechnion

  • 16 May 2006

    The FDA approves Azilect.

    Teva holds the approval for rasagiline, sold as Azilect, in tablets of 0.5 mg and 1 mg. The Technion says the drug is a treatment for Parkinson's patients.

    SourceUS FDA

  • 2022

    Youdim receives the Israel Prize in Life Sciences.

    The Prize Committee cites his pioneering achievements in neuropharmacology. The Technion says he has published about 800 articles on the brain and the nervous system.

    SourceTechnion

1 of 5

Here is why it matters.

Professor Moussa Youdim and Professor John Finberg developed the drug at the Technion's medical faculty in Haifa. The Technion says it works at various stages of Parkinson's disease, alone or with L-dopa.

Three more milestones to read next.

  • Prof. Ruth Arnon of the Weizmann Institute, a co-developer of Copaxone, at her desk

    1996

    Weizmann Institute's multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone wins US approval.

    Read the story

  • 2012

    Elelyso, a Gaucher disease treatment from Israel's Protalix, wins US approval.

    Read the story

  • A swallowable camera capsule beside a millimetre ruler

    2001

    Israel's Given Imaging gets US permission to sell a swallowable camera.

    Read the story

Where each fact was read.

Sources read on 1 November 2026.