The Drug Hunters

The Drug Hunters PDF Author: Donald R. Kirsch
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1628727195
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
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.

The Drug Hunters

The Drug Hunters PDF Author: Donald R. Kirsch
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1628727195
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 298

Get Book Here

Book Description
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.

The Body Hunters

The Body Hunters PDF Author: Sonia Shah
Publisher: New Press, The
ISBN: 1595588310
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
Hailed by John le Carré as “an act of courage on the part of its author” and singled out for praise by the leading medical journals in the United States and the United Kingdom, The Body Hunters uncovers the real-life story behind le Carré's acclaimed novel The Constant Gardener and the feature film based on it. "A trenchant exposé . . . meticulously researched and packed with documentary evidence" (Publishers Weekly), Sonia Shah's riveting journalistic account shines a much-needed spotlight on a disturbing new global trend. Drawing on years of original research and reporting in Africa and Asia, Shah examines how the multinational pharmaceutical industry, in its quest to develop lucrative drugs, has begun exporting its clinical research trials to the developing world, where ethical oversight is minimal and desperate patients abound. As the New England Journal of Medicine notes, “it is critical that those engaged in drug development, clinical research and its oversight, research ethics, and policy know about these stories,” which tell of an impossible choice being faced by many of the world's poorest patients—be experimented upon or die for lack of medicine.

Kinetics of Enzyme Action

Kinetics of Enzyme Action PDF Author: Ross L. Stein
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118084403
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
Few scientists have the knowledge to perform the studies that are necessary to discover and characterize enzyme inhibitors, despite the vested interest the pharmaceutical industry has in this field. Beginning with the most basic principles pertaining to simple, one-substrate enzyme reactions and their inhibitors, and progressing to a thorough treatment of two-substrate enzymes, Kinetics of Enzyme Action: Essential Principles for Drug Hunters provides biochemists, medicinal chemists, and pharmaceutical scientists with numerous case study examples to outline the tools and techniques necessary to perform, understand, and interpret detailed kinetic studies for drug discovery.

Ten Drugs

Ten Drugs PDF Author: Thomas Hager
Publisher: Abrams
ISBN: 1683355318
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
“The stories are skillfully told and entirely entertaining . . . An expert, mostly feel-good book about modern medicine” from the award-winning author (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). Behind every landmark drug is a story. It could be an oddball researcher’s genius insight, a catalyzing moment in geopolitical history, a new breakthrough technology, or an unexpected but welcome side effect discovered during clinical trials. Piece together these stories, as Thomas Hager does in this remarkable, century-spanning history, and you can trace the evolution of our culture and the practice of medicine. Beginning with opium, the “joy plant,” which has been used for 10,000 years, Hager tells a captivating story of medicine. His subjects include the largely forgotten female pioneer who introduced smallpox inoculation to Britain, the infamous knockout drops, the first antibiotic, which saved countless lives, the first antipsychotic, which helped empty public mental hospitals, Viagra, statins, and the new frontier of monoclonal antibodies. This is a deep, wide-ranging, and wildly entertaining book. “[An] absorbing new book.” —The New York Times Book Review “[A] well-written and engaging chronicle.” —The Wall Street Journal “Lucidly informative and compulsively readable.” —Publishers Weekly “Entertaining [and] insightful.” —Booklist “Well-written, well-researched and fascinating to read Ten Drugs provides an insightful look at how drugs have shaped modern medical practices. Towards the end of the book Hager writes that he ‘came away surprised by some of the things he had learned.’ I had the very same reaction.” —Penny Le Couteur, coauthor of Napoleon’s Buttons: How 17 Molecules Changed History

Manhunters

Manhunters PDF Author: Steve Murphy
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1250202906
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
For the first time, legendary DEA operatives Steve Murphy and Javier F. Peña tell the true story of how they helped put an end to one of the world’s most infamous narco-terrorists in Manhunters: How We Took Down Pablo Escobar—the subject of the hit Netflix series, Narcos. Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar’s brutal Medellín Cartel was responsible for trafficking tons of cocaine to North America and Europe in the 1980s and ’90s. The nation became a warzone as his sicarios mercilessly murdered thousands of people—competitors, police, and civilians—to ensure he remained Colombia’s reigning kingpin. With billions in personal income, Pablo Escobar bought off politicians and lawmen, and became a hero to poorer communities by building houses and sports centers. He was nearly untouchable despite the efforts of the Colombian National Police to bring him to justice. But Escobar was also one of America’s most wanted, and the Drug Enforcement Administration was determined to see him pay for his crimes. Agents Steve Murphy and Javier F. Peña were assigned to the Bloque de Búsqueda, the joint Colombian-U.S. taskforce created to end Escobar’s reign of terror. For eighteen months, between July 1992 and December 1993, Steve and Javier lived and worked beside Colombian authorities, finding themselves in the crosshairs of sicarios targeting them for the $300,000 bounty Escobar placed on each of their heads. Undeterred, they risked the dangers, relentlessly and ruthlessly separating the drug lord from his resources and allies, and tearing apart his empire, leaving him underground and on the run from enemies on both sides of the law. Manhunters presents Steve and Javier’s history in law enforcement from their rigorous physical training and their early DEA assignments in Miami and Austin to the Escobar mission in Medellin, Colombia—living far from home and serving as frontline soldiers in the never ending war on drugs that continues to devastate America.

Beautiful Things

Beautiful Things PDF Author: Hunter Biden
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1982151110
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
Hunter Biden recounts his descent into substance abuse and his tortuous path to sobriety. The story ends with where Hunter is today

In Quest of Tomorrow's Medicines

In Quest of Tomorrow's Medicines PDF Author: Jürgen Drews
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9780387955421
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 282

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Book Description
An eminent scientist talks about the pharmaceutical industry, biotechnology and the future of drug research. In the course of our busy, technologically-driven lives, it is taken for granted that we respond to minor fluctuations in our health by taking pills -- pills for headache and for toothache; sleeping pills and tranquilizers; pills to lower fever, quiet coughs, and clear the sinuses; medicines to reduce appetite; preparations to relieve heartburn; and many more. In the war against serious disease, medicines are an indispensable weapon in the physician's arsenal: they save lives, or at least prolong them and make them more bearable. Despite the important role that pharmaceuticals play in our lives, few of us know where medicines come from or how the pharmaceutical industry discovers and develops new drugs. Jurgen Drews, an acclaimed leader in the pharmaceutical industry, tells the fascinating story of drug discovery and development from his years of successfully leading internatnional research teams at Hoffman-LaRoche. Drews traces the history of modern drug development from pharmacies, chemical companies, and individual entrepeneurs in Switzerland, Germany and the U.S. to the mega-corporations that dot the landscape of Europe, Japan and America. He describes the process by which new drugs are tested and brought to market, including a provacative look at how AIDS activism stimulated the approval process in the US. Drews' commentary on the role of clinical trials -- the time involved and their cost -- is sobering testimony to the complexity of bringing innovation to the marketplace. In the final two chapters of "In Quest of Tomorrow's Medicines", Drews offers an important and critical analysis of research in the the pharmaceutical industry, pointing to strategies that work and management practices that impede progress. Drews' comments on the impact that the growing relationship between the biotechnology industry and university-sponsored research will have ont he pharmaceutical industry makes provocative reading for pharmaceutical researchers, managers and investors. "In Quest of Tomorrow's Medicines" in written in clear, thoughtful language for people in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, as well as policy makers, industry analysts and observers.

Drug-like Properties: Concepts, Structure Design and Methods

Drug-like Properties: Concepts, Structure Design and Methods PDF Author: Li Di
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080557619
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 549

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Book Description
Of the thousands of novel compounds that a drug discovery project team invents and that bind to the therapeutic target, typically only a fraction of these have sufficient ADME/Tox properties to become a drug product. Understanding ADME/Tox is critical for all drug researchers, owing to its increasing importance in advancing high quality candidates to clinical studies and the processes of drug discovery. If the properties are weak, the candidate will have a high risk of failure or be less desirable as a drug product. This book is a tool and resource for scientists engaged in, or preparing for, the selection and optimization process. The authors describe how properties affect in vivo pharmacological activity and impact in vitro assays. Individual drug-like properties are discussed from a practical point of view, such as solubility, permeability and metabolic stability, with regard to fundamental understanding, applications of property data in drug discovery and examples of structural modifications that have achieved improved property performance. The authors also review various methods for the screening (high throughput), diagnosis (medium throughput) and in-depth (low throughput) analysis of drug properties. - Serves as an essential working handbook aimed at scientists and students in medicinal chemistry - Provides practical, step-by-step guidance on property fundamentals, effects, structure-property relationships, and structure modification strategies - Discusses improvements in pharmacokinetics from a practical chemist's standpoint

Drugs

Drugs PDF Author: Rick Ng
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118210700
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
"Concise and easy to read, the book quickly introduces basic concepts, then moves on to discuss target selection and the drug discovery process for both small and large molecular drugs." —Doody's Reviews, May 2009 "The second edition of a book that offers a user-friendly step-by-step introduction to all the key processes involved in bringing a drug to the market, including the performance of preclinical trials." —Chemistry World, February 2009 The new edition of this best-selling book continues to offer a user-friendly, step-by-step introduction to all the key processes involved in bringing a drug to the market, including the performance of pre-clinical studies, the conduct of human clinical trials, regulatory controls, and even the manufacturing processes for pharmaceutical products. Concise and easy to read, the book quickly introduces basic concepts, then moves on to discuss target selection and the drug discovery process for both small and large molecular drugs. This second edition features many key enhancements, including Key Points, Chapter Summary, and Review Questions in each chapter, Answers to Review Questions provided in a book-end appendix, and one or two carefully selected "mini" case studies in each chapter. Richly illustrated throughout with over ninety figures and tables, this important book also includes helpful listings of current FDA and European guidelines and a special section on regulatory authority and processes in China. It is an indispensable resource for pharmaceutical industry and academic researchers, pharmaceutical managers and executives, healthcare clinicians, policymakers, regulators, and lobbyists with an interest in drug development. It is also an excellent textbook for students in pharmacy, science, and medicine courses.

Hallelujah Moments

Hallelujah Moments PDF Author: Eugene H. Cordes
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0190080450
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 333

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Book Description
"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"--