The Circuitous Route by a Group of Novices to a New FDA Approved Cancer Therapy: HOW DID WE DO THIS? By Thomas J. Dougherty PhD

One of the first patients ever treated with PDT was in 1974 by  Dr. Thomas Dougherty and his colleagues using hematoporphyrin derivative (HpD) at Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Dr. Dougherty and his colleagues formed Oncology Research and Development (ORD) in 1980 and in 1981 they developed Photofrin (R), the active component in HpD.

ORD filed a patent in 1982 and Photofrin (R) was first approved in Canada in 1993 for bladder cancer, the in 1994 in Japan for non-small cell lung cancer, and then in 1995 in the United States for palliation of obstructive esophageal cancer.  (From: Handbook of Photodynamic Therapy: Updates on Recent Applications of Porphyrin-Based Compounds Ravindra K Pandey, David Kessel, Thomas J Dougherty)

Check out Dr. Dougherty's book The Circuitous Route by a Group of Novices to a New FDA Approved Cancer Therapy: HOW DID WE DO THIS? on Amazon.com for the full story of one of the first clinically approved PDT drugs. 

Dr. Dougherty is Chief Emeritus, Photodynamic Therapy Center, Professor of Oncology Roswell Park Cancer Institute, and President & Research Director of The Oncologic Foundation of Buffalo. He has co-authored over 200 journal publications, book chapters, and abstracts and holds over 25 patents. (https://www.roswellpark.edu/thomas-dougherty)