Hallelujah Moments : Tales of Drug Discovery

"Drug discovery in the pharmaceutical industry has important consequences for the health and wellbeing of people everywhere. However, the general public knows little about the paths through which basic research findings are translated into products that protect or restore human health: the route from the laboratory bench to the bedside. In Hallelujah Moments, Eugene Cordes reveals how some of the most important and influential drugs have been brought into the practice of clinical medicine through the wit and determination of scientists in academia and industry. He shares his firsthand knowledge of the drug-discovery world, having spent a long and distinguished career in both the academic and industrial settings. These tales are "adventure stories," and they trace the route of important drugs like Januvia, Primaxin, Capoten, and Zocor from concept to the clinic. Cordes shows us the dynamic and critical thinking needed to create a drug that meets important health needs. These are human stories of imagination, risk-taking, problem-solving, and perseverance. Written accessibly for a non-scientist audience, Hallelujah Moments provides insights into the fascinating world of drug discovery like never before."-- Book jacket Pharmeceutical drug discovery has wide-reaching and obvious effects on the lives of people everywhere, and yet the general public knows very little about the way in which these important products are conceived. We rely on pharmaceuticals to keep us healthy in countless ways, with almost no understanding of the process behind the creation of the drugs we use. In this book, Eugene Cordes reveals just how some of the most important and influential drugs are made. He shares his firsthand knowledge of the drug-discovery world, having spent a long and distinguished career on both the academic and industrial side of pharmaceutical research Tells stories of pharmaceutical drug discovery, and reveals how drugs are made, from the idea stage through public availability.