From magic bullets to modern therapeutics: Paul Ehrlich, the German immunobiologist and physician coined the term 'complement'

Paul Ehrlich was a pioneering Immunobiologist and physician who coined the term 'complement' in the year 1899. He was a leading visionary scientist who worked in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Berlin and Frankfurt. He received numerous awards and honors for his substantial contributions to immunobiology and medicine, including the identification of complement, and he received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1908 in recognition of his work on immunity.During his clinical work, Paul Ehrlich treated a patient with paroxysmal hemoglobinuria and reported his diagnostic approaches, including those related to erythrocyte lysis and microscopic cell analysis, to the Verein fur Innere Medicine/Society of Internal Medicine, Berlin. Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria was shown to be a complement-mediated disease; treatment of this disease with the complement inhibitor Eculzimab/Soliris was approved by the European Medicines Agency in 2003 and by the United States Food and Drug Administration in 2007.

Automated summary

Paul Ehrlich, a pioneering immunobiologist and physician, coined the term 'complement' and made substantial contributions to immunobiology and medicine. His work on immunity led to the identification of complement and he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1908. He also played a role in the diagnosis and treatment of complement-mediated diseases.