Drugs That Changed the World: How Therapeutic Agents Shaped Our Lives (100 Key Points)

"Drugs are used in the diagnosis, alleviation, treatment, prevention or cure of disease. This is a book about drugs, how they came to be, and how they exert their `magic'. Today we have drugs to protect against infectious diseases, to alleviate aches and pains, to allow new organs to replace the old, and for brain functions to be modified. Yet, for the most part the manner by which drugs are developed and by whom remains a mystery. Drugs are more than just a pill or liquid and some have markedly altered history. The author has selected a few drugs - highlights representing milestones affecting our well-being and influencers of social change. The stories told are dramatic and include spectacular successes and dismal failures. And the people about whom these stories are told are both saints and sinners - selfless and conniving - bold and mercurial and shy and retiring loner. The drugs themselves mirror the diversity of their origin stories and the author assembles all sides of these fascinating stories." --Publisher description MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict MuPDF error: syntax error: invalid key in dict Cover 1 Half Title 2 Title Page 4 Copyright Page 5 Contents 6 List of Figures 8 Preface 10 A Note to the Reader 12 Chapter 1 Malaria and Antimalarials 15 Chapter 2 The Painkiller, Aspirin 43 Chapter 3 Ether, Chloroform, Cocaine, Morphine, Heroin, and Anesthesia 51 Chapter 4 The Pill 65 Chapter 5 Diabetes and Insulin 77 Chapter 6 Smallpox and Vaccination 87 Chapter 7 Vaccines to Combat Infectious Diseases 99 Chapter 8 The Great Pox Syphilis and Salvarsan 127 Chapter 9 Prontosil, Pyrimethamine, and Penicillin 137 Chapter 10 AIDS, HIV, and Antiretrovirals 159 Chapter 11 Organ Transplantation and Cyclosporine 171 Chapter 12 Malaria, Madness, and Chlorpromazine 183 Epilogue 193 Notes 197 Index 203