Migrating neurons in the cerebral cortex

Book review: The Billion Dollar Molecule

Paul Driscoll

This book is a mixture of medicinal chemistry, biotechnology, drug discovery and high-stakes competition in structural biology research. It is also about scientific intrigue, including attempts to manipulate the publication process in a top journal, and business development. Characters featured include the star synthetic chemist Stuart Schreiber, a phalanx of go-ahead US business types, and stuck-in-the-mud Japanese Pharma corporations. I like the book partly because it features (albeit briefly) people who at various times were my close competitors in structural biology. In the past I was involved in a major collaboration with a Japanese company and experienced the culture shock that that entails (first class flights to Tokyo complete with in-flight massage, obligatory exchanges of gifts and business cards; protocols at business meetings) as well as being part of a university team that raised the finance to start a small biotechnology company. The book describes these off-shoot aspects of an academic life all too clearly. Eight out of eight reviewers on Amazon gave this book a top rating.

The Billion Dollar Molecule: One Company’s Quest for the Perfect Drug by Barry Werth is published by Simon and Schuster, 1995.

This essay was published in the Mill Hill Essays 2010

ISBN: 978-0-9546302-8-9

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