In Quest of Tomorrow’s Medicines

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. Jürgen Drews, an acclaimed leader in the pharmaceutical industry, tells the fascinating story of drug discovery and development from his years of successfully leading international research teams at Hoffman-LaRoche. Drews traces the history of modern drug development from pharmacies, chemical companies, and individual entrepreneurs 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 provocative look at how AIDS activism stimulated the approval process in the U.S. 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 pharmaceutical industry, pointing to strategies that work and management practices that impede progress.