The Billion-Dollar Molecule

The Billion-Dollar Molecule

Author: Barry Werth

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2013-08-20

Total Pages: 480

ISBN-13: 143912681X

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Join journalist Barry Werth as he pulls back the curtain on Vertex, a start-up pharmaceutical company, and witness firsthand the intense drama being played out in the pioneering and hugely profitable field of drug research. Founded by Joshua Boger, a dynamic Harvard- and Merck-trained scientific whiz kid, Vertex is dedicated to designing—atom by atom—both a new life-saving immunosuppressant drug, and a drug to combat the virus that causes AIDS. You will be hooked from start to finish, as you go from the labs, where obsessive, fiercely competitive scientists struggle for a breakthrough, to Wall Street, where the wheeling and dealing takes on a life of its own, as Boger courts investors and finally decides to take Vertex public. Here is a fascinating no-holds-barred account of the business of science, which includes an updated epilogue about the most recent developments in the quest for a drug to cure AIDS.


Book Synopsis The Billion-Dollar Molecule by : Barry Werth

Download or read book The Billion-Dollar Molecule written by Barry Werth and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-08-20 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Join journalist Barry Werth as he pulls back the curtain on Vertex, a start-up pharmaceutical company, and witness firsthand the intense drama being played out in the pioneering and hugely profitable field of drug research. Founded by Joshua Boger, a dynamic Harvard- and Merck-trained scientific whiz kid, Vertex is dedicated to designing—atom by atom—both a new life-saving immunosuppressant drug, and a drug to combat the virus that causes AIDS. You will be hooked from start to finish, as you go from the labs, where obsessive, fiercely competitive scientists struggle for a breakthrough, to Wall Street, where the wheeling and dealing takes on a life of its own, as Boger courts investors and finally decides to take Vertex public. Here is a fascinating no-holds-barred account of the business of science, which includes an updated epilogue about the most recent developments in the quest for a drug to cure AIDS.

The Antidote

The Antidote

Author: Barry Werth

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2014-02-04

Total Pages: 448

ISBN-13: 1451655665

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In 1989, the charismatic Joshua Boger left Merck, then America's most admired business, to found a drug company that would challenge industry giants and transform health care. Journalist Barry Werth described the company's tumultuous early days during the AIDS crisis in The Billion-Dollar Molecule, a celebrated classic of science and business journalism. Now he returns to tell the story of Vertex's bold endurance and eventual success. The pharmaceutical business is America's toughest and one of its most profitable. It's riskier and more rigorous at just about every stage than any other business, from the towering biological uncertainties inherent in its mission to treat disease; to the 30-to-1 failure rate in bringing out a successful medicine; to the multibillion-dollar cost of ramping up a successful product; to operating in the world's most regulated industry, matched only by nuclear power. Werth captures the full scope of Vertex's 25-year drive to deliver breakthrough medicines.--From publisher description.


Book Synopsis The Antidote by : Barry Werth

Download or read book The Antidote written by Barry Werth and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-02-04 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1989, the charismatic Joshua Boger left Merck, then America's most admired business, to found a drug company that would challenge industry giants and transform health care. Journalist Barry Werth described the company's tumultuous early days during the AIDS crisis in The Billion-Dollar Molecule, a celebrated classic of science and business journalism. Now he returns to tell the story of Vertex's bold endurance and eventual success. The pharmaceutical business is America's toughest and one of its most profitable. It's riskier and more rigorous at just about every stage than any other business, from the towering biological uncertainties inherent in its mission to treat disease; to the 30-to-1 failure rate in bringing out a successful medicine; to the multibillion-dollar cost of ramping up a successful product; to operating in the world's most regulated industry, matched only by nuclear power. Werth captures the full scope of Vertex's 25-year drive to deliver breakthrough medicines.--From publisher description.

The Drug Hunters

The Drug Hunters

Author: Donald R. Kirsch

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2016-12-13

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 1628727195

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The surprising, behind-the-scenes story of how our medicines are discovered, told by a veteran drug hunter. The search to find medicines is as old as disease, which is to say as old as the human race. Through serendipity— by chewing, brewing, and snorting—some Neolithic souls discovered opium, alcohol, snakeroot, juniper, frankincense, and other helpful substances. Ötzi the Iceman, the five-thousand-year-old hunter frozen in the Italian Alps, was found to have whipworms in his intestines and Bronze-age medicine, a worm-killing birch fungus, knotted to his leggings. Nowadays, Big Pharma conglomerates spend billions of dollars on state-of the art laboratories staffed by PhDs to discover blockbuster drugs. Yet, despite our best efforts to engineer cures, luck, trial-and-error, risk, and ingenuity are still fundamental to medical discovery. The Drug Hunters is a colorful, fact-filled narrative history of the search for new medicines from our Neolithic forebears to the professionals of today, and from quinine and aspirin to Viagra, Prozac, and Lipitor. The chapters offer a lively tour of how new drugs are actually found, the discovery strategies, the mistakes, and the rare successes. Dr. Donald R. Kirsch infuses the book with his own expertise and experiences from thirty-five years of drug hunting, whether searching for life-saving molecules in mudflats by Chesapeake Bay or as a chief science officer and research group leader at major pharmaceutical companies.


Book Synopsis The Drug Hunters by : Donald R. Kirsch

Download or read book The Drug Hunters written by Donald R. Kirsch and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-12-13 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The surprising, behind-the-scenes story of how our medicines are discovered, told by a veteran drug hunter. The search to find medicines is as old as disease, which is to say as old as the human race. Through serendipity— by chewing, brewing, and snorting—some Neolithic souls discovered opium, alcohol, snakeroot, juniper, frankincense, and other helpful substances. Ötzi the Iceman, the five-thousand-year-old hunter frozen in the Italian Alps, was found to have whipworms in his intestines and Bronze-age medicine, a worm-killing birch fungus, knotted to his leggings. Nowadays, Big Pharma conglomerates spend billions of dollars on state-of the art laboratories staffed by PhDs to discover blockbuster drugs. Yet, despite our best efforts to engineer cures, luck, trial-and-error, risk, and ingenuity are still fundamental to medical discovery. The Drug Hunters is a colorful, fact-filled narrative history of the search for new medicines from our Neolithic forebears to the professionals of today, and from quinine and aspirin to Viagra, Prozac, and Lipitor. The chapters offer a lively tour of how new drugs are actually found, the discovery strategies, the mistakes, and the rare successes. Dr. Donald R. Kirsch infuses the book with his own expertise and experiences from thirty-five years of drug hunting, whether searching for life-saving molecules in mudflats by Chesapeake Bay or as a chief science officer and research group leader at major pharmaceutical companies.

Science Business

Science Business

Author: Gary P. Pisano

Publisher: Harvard Business Press

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 9781591398400

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Why has the biotechnology industry failed to perform up to expectations? This book attempts to answer this question by providing a critique of the industry. It reveals the causes of biotech's problems and offers an analysis on how the industry works. It also provides prescriptions for companies, seeking ways to improve the industry's performance.


Book Synopsis Science Business by : Gary P. Pisano

Download or read book Science Business written by Gary P. Pisano and published by Harvard Business Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why has the biotechnology industry failed to perform up to expectations? This book attempts to answer this question by providing a critique of the industry. It reveals the causes of biotech's problems and offers an analysis on how the industry works. It also provides prescriptions for companies, seeking ways to improve the industry's performance.

Unnecessary Expense

Unnecessary Expense

Author: Charles Theuer

Publisher: Forbesbooks

Published: 2021-09-21

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 9781950863570

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The drug development process in the United States has become so weighted down by a business-as-usual paradigm that an average of more than $2 billion is spent to secure FDA approval for every new drug. Because the investment required is so extreme, drug development companies are understandably focused on discovering and developing drugs designed for large patient populations: diseases experienced by millions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, or some of the more common cancers. In Unnecessary Expense, Dr. Charles Theuer, CEO of TRACON Pharmaceuticals, outlines the problem and offers a solution: an aligned and streamlined model that emphasizes quality and reduces the time and cost of drug development, while also harnessing global innovation to benefit patients with rare diseases in urgent need of new treatments. Here Dr. Theuer shows the value of a pharmaceutical paradigm shift, to enable the development of drugs for patients who need them, at a fraction of the time and cost.


Book Synopsis Unnecessary Expense by : Charles Theuer

Download or read book Unnecessary Expense written by Charles Theuer and published by Forbesbooks. This book was released on 2021-09-21 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The drug development process in the United States has become so weighted down by a business-as-usual paradigm that an average of more than $2 billion is spent to secure FDA approval for every new drug. Because the investment required is so extreme, drug development companies are understandably focused on discovering and developing drugs designed for large patient populations: diseases experienced by millions, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, or some of the more common cancers. In Unnecessary Expense, Dr. Charles Theuer, CEO of TRACON Pharmaceuticals, outlines the problem and offers a solution: an aligned and streamlined model that emphasizes quality and reduces the time and cost of drug development, while also harnessing global innovation to benefit patients with rare diseases in urgent need of new treatments. Here Dr. Theuer shows the value of a pharmaceutical paradigm shift, to enable the development of drugs for patients who need them, at a fraction of the time and cost.

Hallelujah Moments

Hallelujah Moments

Author: Eugene H. Cordes

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 333

ISBN-13: 0190080450

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"This work provides eleven stories of drug discovery and features the scientists who made them. The outcome of the discovery work has provided novel therapies in cancer, cardiovascular medicine, antibacterial and antiviral infectious diseases, parasitic diseases, metabolic diseases, and weight control. Each story begins with the basic biomedical science that revealed the pathway to effective drug therapy and continues with the step-by-step process that leads from insight to a product in clinical practice meeting a defined medical need. The tales feature creative problem solving by clever and dedicated scientists as they overcame roadblocks to success., hallelujah moments. Each drug discovery story reflects the interface between basic science, medicine, and drug discovery. Embedded in these tales are the societal and medical environments in which drug discovery takes place, the discovery of agents to treat HIV/AIDS, for example. Finally, a series of appendices provides basic chemical background for non-scientists"--


Book Synopsis Hallelujah Moments by : Eugene H. Cordes

Download or read book Hallelujah Moments written by Eugene H. Cordes and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2020 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This work provides eleven stories of drug discovery and features the scientists who made them. The outcome of the discovery work has provided novel therapies in cancer, cardiovascular medicine, antibacterial and antiviral infectious diseases, parasitic diseases, metabolic diseases, and weight control. Each story begins with the basic biomedical science that revealed the pathway to effective drug therapy and continues with the step-by-step process that leads from insight to a product in clinical practice meeting a defined medical need. The tales feature creative problem solving by clever and dedicated scientists as they overcame roadblocks to success., hallelujah moments. Each drug discovery story reflects the interface between basic science, medicine, and drug discovery. Embedded in these tales are the societal and medical environments in which drug discovery takes place, the discovery of agents to treat HIV/AIDS, for example. Finally, a series of appendices provides basic chemical background for non-scientists"--

31 Days

31 Days

Author: Barry Werth

Publisher: Anchor

Published: 2007-02-13

Total Pages: 418

ISBN-13: 1400078687

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In 31 Days, acclaimed historian Barry Werth takes readers inside the White House during the tumultuous days of August 1974, following Richard Nixon's resignation and the swearing-in of America's "accidental president," Gerald Ford. The Watergate scandal had torn the country apart. In a dramatic, day-by-day account of the new administration’s inner workings, Werth shows how Ford, caught between political expedience, the country’s demands for justice, and his own moral compass, struggled valiantly to restore the nation’s tarnished faith in its leadership. With deft and refreshing analysis Werth illuminates how this unprecedented political upheaval produced new fissures and battle lines, as well as new opportunities for political advancement for ambitious young men such as Donald Rumsfeld, who had been Nixon’s ambassador to NATO, and Dick Cheney, already coolly efficient as Rumsfeld’s former deputy. A superbly crafted presidential history with all of the twists and turns of a thriller, 31 Days sheds new light on the key players and political dilemmas that reverberate in today’s headlines.


Book Synopsis 31 Days by : Barry Werth

Download or read book 31 Days written by Barry Werth and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2007-02-13 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 31 Days, acclaimed historian Barry Werth takes readers inside the White House during the tumultuous days of August 1974, following Richard Nixon's resignation and the swearing-in of America's "accidental president," Gerald Ford. The Watergate scandal had torn the country apart. In a dramatic, day-by-day account of the new administration’s inner workings, Werth shows how Ford, caught between political expedience, the country’s demands for justice, and his own moral compass, struggled valiantly to restore the nation’s tarnished faith in its leadership. With deft and refreshing analysis Werth illuminates how this unprecedented political upheaval produced new fissures and battle lines, as well as new opportunities for political advancement for ambitious young men such as Donald Rumsfeld, who had been Nixon’s ambassador to NATO, and Dick Cheney, already coolly efficient as Rumsfeld’s former deputy. A superbly crafted presidential history with all of the twists and turns of a thriller, 31 Days sheds new light on the key players and political dilemmas that reverberate in today’s headlines.

Damages

Damages

Author: Barry Werth

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2013-08-20

Total Pages: 553

ISBN-13: 1439142483

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Damages is the riveting true story of one family’s legal struggles in the world of medicine. At the urging of a friend, the Sabias filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Dr. Humes and Norwalk Hospital. Barry Werth takes us through the seven-year lawsuit, allowing us to see the legal strategy plotted by the Sabias’s attorneys, Connecticut’s premier medical malpractice law firm.


Book Synopsis Damages by : Barry Werth

Download or read book Damages written by Barry Werth and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-08-20 with total page 553 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Damages is the riveting true story of one family’s legal struggles in the world of medicine. At the urging of a friend, the Sabias filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Dr. Humes and Norwalk Hospital. Barry Werth takes us through the seven-year lawsuit, allowing us to see the legal strategy plotted by the Sabias’s attorneys, Connecticut’s premier medical malpractice law firm.

Genentech

Genentech

Author: Sally Smith Hughes

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2011-09-21

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 0226359204

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In the fall of 1980, Genentech, Inc., a little-known California genetic engineering company, became the overnight darling of Wall Street, raising over $38 million in its initial public stock offering. Lacking marketed products or substantial profit, the firm nonetheless saw its share price escalate from $35 to $89 in the first few minutes of trading, at that point the largest gain in stock market history. Coming at a time of economic recession and declining technological competitiveness in the United States, the event provoked banner headlines and ignited a period of speculative frenzy over biotechnology as a revolutionary means for creating new and better kinds of pharmaceuticals, untold profit, and a possible solution to national economic malaise. Drawing from an unparalleled collection of interviews with early biotech players, Sally Smith Hughes offers the first book-length history of this pioneering company, depicting Genentech’s improbable creation, precarious youth, and ascent to immense prosperity. Hughes provides intimate portraits of the people significant to Genentech’s science and business, including cofounders Herbert Boyer and Robert Swanson, and in doing so sheds new light on how personality affects the growth of science. By placing Genentech’s founders, followers, opponents, victims, and beneficiaries in context, Hughes also demonstrates how science interacts with commercial and legal interests and university research, and with government regulation, venture capital, and commercial profits. Integrating the scientific, the corporate, the contextual, and the personal, Genentech tells the story of biotechnology as it is not often told, as a risky and improbable entrepreneurial venture that had to overcome a number of powerful forces working against it.


Book Synopsis Genentech by : Sally Smith Hughes

Download or read book Genentech written by Sally Smith Hughes and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2011-09-21 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the fall of 1980, Genentech, Inc., a little-known California genetic engineering company, became the overnight darling of Wall Street, raising over $38 million in its initial public stock offering. Lacking marketed products or substantial profit, the firm nonetheless saw its share price escalate from $35 to $89 in the first few minutes of trading, at that point the largest gain in stock market history. Coming at a time of economic recession and declining technological competitiveness in the United States, the event provoked banner headlines and ignited a period of speculative frenzy over biotechnology as a revolutionary means for creating new and better kinds of pharmaceuticals, untold profit, and a possible solution to national economic malaise. Drawing from an unparalleled collection of interviews with early biotech players, Sally Smith Hughes offers the first book-length history of this pioneering company, depicting Genentech’s improbable creation, precarious youth, and ascent to immense prosperity. Hughes provides intimate portraits of the people significant to Genentech’s science and business, including cofounders Herbert Boyer and Robert Swanson, and in doing so sheds new light on how personality affects the growth of science. By placing Genentech’s founders, followers, opponents, victims, and beneficiaries in context, Hughes also demonstrates how science interacts with commercial and legal interests and university research, and with government regulation, venture capital, and commercial profits. Integrating the scientific, the corporate, the contextual, and the personal, Genentech tells the story of biotechnology as it is not often told, as a risky and improbable entrepreneurial venture that had to overcome a number of powerful forces working against it.

Breath from Salt

Breath from Salt

Author: Bijal P. Trivedi

Publisher: BenBella Books

Published: 2020-09-08

Total Pages: 744

ISBN-13: 1948836629

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Recommended by Bill Gates and included in GatesNotes "Elaborating on the science as well as the business behind the fight against cystic fibrosis, Trivedi captures the emotions of the families, doctors, and scientists involved in the clinical trials and their 'weeping with joy' as new drugs are approved, and shows how cystic fibrosis, once a 'death sentence,' became, for many, a manageable condition. This is a rewarding and challenging work." —Publishers Weekly Cystic fibrosis was once a mysterious disease that killed infants and children. Now it could be the key to healing millions with genetic diseases of every type—from Alzheimer's and Parkinson's to diabetes and sickle cell anemia. In 1974, Joey O'Donnell was born with strange symptoms. His insatiable appetite, incessant vomiting, and a relentless cough—which shook his tiny, fragile body and made it difficult to draw breath—confounded doctors and caused his parents agonizing, sleepless nights. After six sickly months, his salty skin provided the critical clue: he was one of thousands of Americans with cystic fibrosis, an inherited lung disorder that would most likely kill him before his first birthday. The gene and mutation responsible for CF were found in 1989—discoveries that promised to lead to a cure for kids like Joey. But treatments unexpectedly failed and CF was deemed incurable. It was only after the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, a grassroots organization founded by parents, formed an unprecedented partnership with a fledgling biotech company that transformative leaps in drug development were harnessed to produce groundbreaking new treatments: pills that could fix the crippled protein at the root of this deadly disease. From science writer Bijal P. Trivedi, Breath from Salt chronicles the riveting saga of cystic fibrosis, from its ancient origins to its identification in the dank autopsy room of a hospital basement, and from the CF gene's celebrated status as one of the first human disease genes ever discovered to the groundbreaking targeted genetic therapies that now promise to cure it. Told from the perspectives of the patients, families, physicians, scientists, and philanthropists fighting on the front lines, Breath from Salt is a remarkable story of unlikely scientific and medical firsts, of setbacks and successes, and of people who refused to give up hope—and a fascinating peek into the future of genetics and medicine.


Book Synopsis Breath from Salt by : Bijal P. Trivedi

Download or read book Breath from Salt written by Bijal P. Trivedi and published by BenBella Books. This book was released on 2020-09-08 with total page 744 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recommended by Bill Gates and included in GatesNotes "Elaborating on the science as well as the business behind the fight against cystic fibrosis, Trivedi captures the emotions of the families, doctors, and scientists involved in the clinical trials and their 'weeping with joy' as new drugs are approved, and shows how cystic fibrosis, once a 'death sentence,' became, for many, a manageable condition. This is a rewarding and challenging work." —Publishers Weekly Cystic fibrosis was once a mysterious disease that killed infants and children. Now it could be the key to healing millions with genetic diseases of every type—from Alzheimer's and Parkinson's to diabetes and sickle cell anemia. In 1974, Joey O'Donnell was born with strange symptoms. His insatiable appetite, incessant vomiting, and a relentless cough—which shook his tiny, fragile body and made it difficult to draw breath—confounded doctors and caused his parents agonizing, sleepless nights. After six sickly months, his salty skin provided the critical clue: he was one of thousands of Americans with cystic fibrosis, an inherited lung disorder that would most likely kill him before his first birthday. The gene and mutation responsible for CF were found in 1989—discoveries that promised to lead to a cure for kids like Joey. But treatments unexpectedly failed and CF was deemed incurable. It was only after the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, a grassroots organization founded by parents, formed an unprecedented partnership with a fledgling biotech company that transformative leaps in drug development were harnessed to produce groundbreaking new treatments: pills that could fix the crippled protein at the root of this deadly disease. From science writer Bijal P. Trivedi, Breath from Salt chronicles the riveting saga of cystic fibrosis, from its ancient origins to its identification in the dank autopsy room of a hospital basement, and from the CF gene's celebrated status as one of the first human disease genes ever discovered to the groundbreaking targeted genetic therapies that now promise to cure it. Told from the perspectives of the patients, families, physicians, scientists, and philanthropists fighting on the front lines, Breath from Salt is a remarkable story of unlikely scientific and medical firsts, of setbacks and successes, and of people who refused to give up hope—and a fascinating peek into the future of genetics and medicine.