My father, Dr Roger Altounyan, discovered Intal (sodium cromoglicate) in the 1960s, at a time when many of his medical colleagues wrote off asthma sufferers as hypochondriacs (Letters, 18 April). He was an asthmatic and a doctor, and was determined to prove them wrong. He conducted experiments on himself and in a secret Cheshire laboratory over 10 years, testing about 500 compounds before finally declaring eureka.
Then he researched how best to dispense his drug into the lungs of patients. Thanks to his time spent behind a propeller as a wartime fighter pilot, he hit on the idea of the Spinhaler.
My father died prematurely as a result of his self-experimentation. During the last year of his life, I recorded his story, which inspired me to create a charity dedicated to him called Stories for Life.
He was normally mild-mannered. But when I was recording his story, I asked him if he regretted his decade of drug testing and he banged his fist hard on our dining table, saying: “Don’t be so ridiculous, Barb. I’d do it all over again.”
Barbara Altounyan
London
