WESTLOCK – In the early 1990s Brian Corrigan was a young pharmacist working at MacKenzie IDA Pharmacy in downtown Westlock, with a vision to use pharmaceutical medicine to save lives around world one day.
Fast forward thirty-two years and the former Westlock resident is now the global head of clinical pharmacology and global product development for Pfizer in the United States.
His leadership in various roles and cutting-edge work over the years, which includes developing models to analyze clinical trials and identify correct doses, as well as supervising early-stage trials of compounds being developed for illnesses ranging from neuropathic pain and Alzheimer’s to COVID-19, has earned Corrigan recent accolades.
The University of Alberta recently presented Corrigan with the 2021 Distinguished Alumni Award — an award that recognizes the outstanding lifetime accomplishments of alumni who have earned national or international regard or have had significant, local impact as a result of their outstanding professional achievements and service to society.
While it’s been several years since Corrigan has lived in Alberta, he identifies as being an Albertan to this day and noted how “really special” it was to receive an award from his home province and the people he grew up with. It is an award that Corrigan is ‘very humbled’ to receive.
“I’m deeply honoured. It means a lot to me to be recognized by fellow Albertans,” said Corrigan.
Rural roots
Corrigan moved to Westlock from Rochester in 1974 with his family, and attended St. Mary School, starting in Grade 4. He graduated from St. Mary’s in 1982 and went on to study at the University of Alberta Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, where he graduated with his Bachelor of Science (Pharm) degree in 1989 and later completed his PhD in pharmacokinetics in 1996.
Today, his mother and sister still reside in town. Corrigan said he has many good memories of his days growing up in Westlock.
“It was a great time. I still have family living in Westlock and friends (there). It was great formative years for me at St. Mary and I really enjoyed all of the things I did there, especially high school sports — I played volleyball, basketball,” said Corrigan. “I spent many years working at the Westlock Swimming Pool and taught many of the kids in Westlock swimming. I got to know the community a little bit through being a swim instructor.”
Shortly after graduating as a licensed pharmacist in 1989, he returned to Westlock to work in his field full-time for several months, before pursuing graduate studies.
“I came back and worked as a retail pharmacist for a very short while in Westlock for six months or so, at MacKenzie IDA Pharmacy down on main street,” he said.
Global impact
After completing his PhD in 1996 he moved to Mississauga, Ont. to work for a short time and then left to work for another company in the United States, before joining Pfizer in Michigan in 1999. He subsequently moved to the east coast with the company, where he has worked in Connecticut for more than 20 years.
During that time Corrigan’s work has helped evolve the area of clinical pharmacology — the study of how medicines have their effect and are broken down in the body.
He helped found and has been president of the International Society of Pharmacometrics. He was inducted as a ISoP Fellow in 2019 and has been described as a pioneer of methods that have become the gold standard in quickly moving medications from research to clinics where they save countless lives.
One of those areas has been his work with the COVID-19 oral, antiviral treatment Paxlovid.
“My group played a very important role in the development of the oral, therapeutic agent (with) Pfizer that was approved a month and a half ago or so called Paxlovid,” said Corrigan. “My group was responsible for all of the early trials where we tested that to understand how it’s moving through the body, how it’s broken down, how it’s eliminated. Also, understanding how there may be potential drug interactions and making sure that we understand those before we give it to patients.”
He and his group oversaw the trials and the very first time it was administered to human patients, about a year ago in March 2021. Working very quickly, they were able to move the compound into clinical trials last summer and eventually were given emergency use authorization just before Christmas in the United States and several weeks later in Canada in early 2022.
Corrigan’s work on Paxlovid was a huge highlight in his much accomplished career.
“It was a great team, great work. We delivered a number of trials into that program and it’s a medicine that’s actually saving lives for many high-risk COVID patients that are unfortunately, still getting the virus,” he said.
Despite his work around the globe and his international experience, it is the local connections and the people here in Westlock that Corrigan credits with much of his success over the years.
“I had very good teachers at St. Mary School that all made it possible,” said Corrigan. “It all started there.”
