The Billion Dollar Molecule, Barry Werth
The Billion Dollar Molecule, Barry Werth
List: $29.99 | Sale: $21.00
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The Billion Dollar Molecule
One Company's Quest for the Perfect Drug

Author: Barry Werth

Narrator: Stephen Bowlby

Unabridged: 18 hr 25 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 11/30/2021

Synopsis

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 designing—atom by atom—both 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.

About Barry Werth

Barry Werth is an award-winning journalist and the acclaimed author of six books. His landmark first book, The Billion-Dollar Molecule, recounts the founding and early struggles of Vertex. Werth's articles have appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, and GQ, among others. He has taught journalism and nonfiction writing at Smith, Mount Holyoke, and Boston University.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Holly Weston

I may be doing this book a disservice by awarding it 4 stars, as my 5-star rating system is likely biased toward books that build on my own preexisting knowledge and against books on subjects about which I know very little. Billion Dollar Molecule is fascinating even for a biotech know-little like m......more

Goodreads review by Aman

A nose dive into the thrilling world of scientific research, this book takes one on an exciting journey of a biotech start-up named Vertex Pharmaceuticals, and also an amazing history of money and science. Led by Joshua Boger, the center of the company's story, Vertex takes on the biggest drug firms......more

Goodreads review by Xinyu

Anyone who has done some biomedical research would be very familiar with the uncertainty and frustration the author described. This is definitely not an very exciting story as I would imagine for a successful young company; there were very little eureka moments in the process - most of them were rep......more

Goodreads review by Ben

A very interesting story of a pharmaceutical startup. So much hype, with no solid basis, and yet they survive. Werth does a good job explaining the business, the science, and the experience of doing the science. > Scientists, unlike, say, athletes, conjure their own competition. They seldom know pre......more

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