The Billion-Dollar Molecule: The Quest for the Perfect Drug [Paperback]

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.Barry Werthis an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in such publications asThe New York Times, Washington Monthly,andGQ,where he is a writer-at-large. Currently at work on an expose about doctors and lawyers, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.Geoffrey SmithBusiness WeekA riveting tale that has more in common with a John Grisham thriller than with tomes on modern science.John SchwartzThe Washington PostThe inside skinny...a high stakes tale of adventure and intrigue: Barbarians at the Lab. Werth's work is a gem.John TravisThe Boston GlobeFascinating...gripping...must reading for anyone curious about an industry that promises to revolutionize medical care in the next century.