A microbiologist at New York University recently pledged at least $105 million to the institution, an unprecedented gift in the school’s history.
Jan T. Vilcek and fellow microbiologist Junming Le developed an antibody that serves as the basis of the drug Remicade, a medication used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn’s disease. Vilcek, a professor in NYU’s School of Medicine, pledged to donate a percentage of his royalties from Remicade along with a payment based on the sales performance of Remicade, which could exceed a $105 million gift in total. After 30 years at NYU, Vilcek said he “wanted to do as much as I can to help further enhance the basic sciences.”