Customer Reviews

Miracle Medicines: Seven Lifesaving Drugs and the People Who Created Them

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I expected to be enlightened by this book, but I never expected to enjoy it. I was in for a big surprise. Author Robert L. Shook's writing is always first rate. However, in this book he has accomplished three rather remarkable things. First, instead of simply presenting well-researched and well-organized information - which could have made for a dull read - he has brought the information to life, creating seven intriguing stories about the dedicated and talented people who embody the pharmaceutical industry. I'll offer one example. Over a relatively short period of time we have come to accept AIDS as a (tragic) feature of contemporary society. I was fascinated to read about how, when, and where AIDS actually began; how it spread in this country; how physicians eventually identified HIV; and how pharmaceutical companies rushed to develop tools to diagnose and treat it. And, by the way, I found the profiles of the pharmaceutical companies quite inspiring - great things really can come from rather humble beginnings. Second, Shook takes technical information and makes it simple and easy to understand. This is no small feat. Finally, Shook helps the reader understand - yes, even appreciate - the contributions of pharmaceutical companies. In recent years, people have come to regard "Big Pharma" as they do "Big Oil" - i.e., as companies that exploit consumers who have no choice but to buy their products. Shook helps us to see pharmaceutical companies in a far more sympathetic light. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good read and wants to learn about the ever-changing world in which we live.

For years, the media has been knocking Big Pharma,and many of us are be duped into believing that the pharmaceutical companies are deceptive, devious and inhererently evil. Even the movie, "The Constant Gardener," a fictious story, has influenced public opinion to think that Big Pharma will do anything for the almighty dollar.

Robert L. Shook, a highly respected independent business writer, with no ties to the pharmaceutical industry has penned an eye-opening book that takes the reader behind the scenes of seven companies--Abbott, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Novartis amd Pfizer to meet the real people who dedicate their lives to finding cures for diseases. In doing so, Shook puts a face on these dedicated men and women, most of whom spend their entire careers working in their labs without ever having a new drug ending up in our medicine cabinet. After reading MIRACLE MEDICINES, my take on these individuals is that they are truly committed to humankind. They are hard-working, decent people who spend their lives to benefit others. As the author states, these are highly educated people, many who have medical degrees and Ph.Ds and could earn far more in private practice or working elsewhere. Why do they work for pharmaceutical companies? To paraphrase one chemist in the book, "I could have made more money working for a chemical company, but I wanted to work where I could do the most good for humankind."

The author does an excellent job in presenting an otherwise very complicated subject in a way that can be enjoyably read by all. This is a tribute to his writing skills. The book is very informative and interesting to read. I recommend that you buy it.

Americans who criticize the pharmaceutical industry need to read this important book. Author Shook went behind locked doors to show us an insight on the tremendous costs and risks that these pharmaceutical corporations take. We all complain about the high costs of medicine, but Shook clearly describes the years of work and dedication by brilliant scientists as well as the many millions of dollars that these corporations front to bring a new medicine to the market place. I still may complain about the cost of my prescriptions, but I am now appreciative of the many dedicated people in the industry who made my medicines available.

Everyone lately has been attacking Big Pharma and at last an author has written a positive book about one of the world's most important industries. Robert L. Shook's Miracle Medicines discloses what every American needs to know about what our big pharmaceutical companies do that results in saving millions of lives and relieves pain and suffering for still millions and millions more people. Yes, people complain about the high cost of medicines, but what's a drug worth that inhibits HIV or a terrible cancer? Shook tells the story of Humalog, a manmade insulin produced by Eli Lilly that controls diabetes. This medicine costs only a couple of dollars a day, but without it, or another insulin, all diabetics would be doomed to suffer a horrendous slow death by eventual starvation. So for less than the cost of a Big Mac each day, I think this drug is an incredible value. Another medicine that's featured in this book is Remicade, a biotech medicine made by Johnson & Johnson. The story of this medicine reads like fiction. Against all odds, its scientists and company executives refused to accept defeat. Remicade is truly a miracle medicine. It inhibits diseases that attack our immune systems. Taken by infusion, only a few times a year, it relieves the pain and agony of rheumatoid arthritis, and later it was approved for other indications including Crohn's disease, ankylosing spondylitis, psoriasis and ulcerative colitis.

There is also the story that the author tells about Gleevec, a drug that he calls a designer medicine that targets cancer cells. Yes, the scientists at Novartis figured out how to make a molecule that goes into the cell and hits a specific defective chromosome causes a rare form of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). The story about Gleevec is one of the truly great medical advances in modern times. Most important, this breakthrough medicine will open the door for other advances in the fight against cancer..

After I read this book, I walked away with a new respect for Big Pharma. So what if these companies make a lot of money. Considering the good they do for humankind, they deserve it.

Miracle Medicines, surely author Shook's best work to date, is the mostly unknown story of the years of time, huge effort, single minded dedication by very bright people, and enormous monetary resources and corporate conviction required to bring a successful drug to their ultimate purpose of helping patients. I was particularly struck by the discouraging odds against any one formulation. "In general terms, 10,000 new ideas are needed to create 10 workable trial drugs that will yield 1 that gets successfully to the market."

Miracle Medicines is an important look at the inner workings of the pharmaceutical industry, and a creditable explanation of the extraordinary monetary risks taken with every new medication. In the book, certain pharmaceutical executives speak of their industry as having the highest risk reward ratios of any business. After reading Miracle Medicines, I believe them. It's a good read.

Millard Cummins

Robert L. Shook's "Miracle Medicines" is must reading for anyone, be they health care professionals, patients or just someone interested in the development of our modern medicines. Best of all, the stories behind these wonder drugs are told in an engrossing, easy to read style

For those Americans who have been knocking the pharmaceutical companies, I strongly recommend that they read Robert L. Shook's latest book, Miracle Medicines. It takes you behind the scenes to meet the dedicated scientists who spend years in labs working on drugs, most of which will never make it to the medicine cabinet. This book explains why our medicines cost so much money--today's newly released drugs average $800 million, and in a highly competitive field, there is no guarantee they will ever make a profit. What I enjoyed most was learning about the seven different medicines that are featured in this book, and how brilliant the men and women who made them obviously are. This book is a real tribute to one of our most important industries. This book is well researched and well written. Shook has taken a very complicated subject and made it enjoyable to read.

even with expedited shipping, the book was not shipped immediately. then, package was never delivered - tracking information said the package was undeliverable. money was refunded.

I took many interesting courses in my early-1980s MBA program: strategy formulation, marketing, consumer behavior, and others. But the most exciting course was taught by Vijay Govindarajan. A star in higher education in India and later in the United States, VG (as we students called him) had us on the edge of our seats each and every class. Using the "case method," he embedded what he wanted us to learn inside interesting business problems, and he challenged us to solve them. My classmates and I energetically debated the cases both before and after class. The subject VG taught? Accounting.

One might not expect the world of disease and pharmaceuticals to be exciting, either, but Robert Shook does the same thing with drugs and the people of the pharmaceutical industry that VG did with accounting. Each of the seven stories in Miracle Medicines describes a health problem that afflicts people all around us, perhaps family members - maybe even you. (Like the author, I suffer from asthma.) Shook introduces us to the people of Big Pharma (as insiders call the industry) and vividly describes their struggle to develop an effective drug and bring it to market. It is not an easy process, and, after reading this book, you will understand why pharmaceuticals can be so expensive.

This book is a must read for three groups: those who want to know more about the drugs they depend upon for health, if not life itself; anyone who wants to understand the business side of the pharmaceutical industry and how drugs are developed; and readers who enjoy good short stories, for Miracle Medicines is really a collection of fascinating tales with a common theme - how people working together bring life and hope to others.

There are two elements to any industry. Research and making money. At no point we should question the integrity of people who do everything they can to find cures for human ailments. This book tells all that. In this world of Wall Street expectations to show quick and continuous profits, some times, Pharma companies might make some bad judgment calls and those decisions cause more harm than anything. Pharma is being criticized for its practices in drug research with all the myths and lies, and at the same time pushing those companies to produce and show quick returns on stock market so that investors can make quick profit without realizing the effort that goes into the research, clinical trials and marketing of a drug. Drugs are not commodities and only that realization can put things perspective to everyone.