The Billion-Dollar Molecule: The Quest for the Perfect Drug

(Paperback)

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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 designingatom by atomboth 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.

Reviews

Geoffrey Smith Business Week A riveting tale that has more in common with a John Grisham thriller than with tomes on modern science.
John Schwartz The Washington Post The inside skinny...a high stakes tale of adventure and intrigue: Barbarians at the Lab. Werth's work is a gem.
John Travis The Boston Globe Fascinating...gripping...must reading for anyone curious about an industry that promises to revolutionize medical care in the next century.

Author Bio

Barry Werth is an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in such publications as The New York Times, Washington Monthly, and GQ, where he is a writer-at-large. Currently at work on an expose about doctors and lawyers, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.