The Drug Hunters

The Improbable Quest to Discover New Medicines

By: Donald R. Kirsch PhD, Ogi Ogas PhD

Narrated by: James Foster

Length: 7 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

The search to find medicines is as old as disease, which is to say as old as the human race. Through serendipity - by chewing, brewing, and snorting - some Neolithic souls discovered opium, alcohol, snakeroot, juniper, frankincense, and other helpful substances. Ötzi the Iceman, the 5,000-year-old hunter frozen in the Italian Alps, was found to have whipworms in his intestines and Bronze Age medicine, a worm-killing birch fungus, knotted to his leggings. Nowadays Big Pharma conglomerates spend billions of dollars on state-of-the art laboratories staffed by PhDs to discover blockbuster drugs. Yet despite our best efforts to engineer cures, luck, trial and error, risk, and ingenuity are still fundamental to medical discovery.

The Drug Hunters is a colorful, fact-filled narrative history of the search for new medicines from our Neolithic forebears to the professionals of today and from quinine and aspirin to Viagra, Prozac, and Lipitor.

©2017 Donald R. Kirsch and Ogi Ogas (P)2017 Tantor

Critic reviews

"A lively and sweeping look at the history of drug discovery and how difficult, expensive, and pivotal the search has proven to be." ( Publishers Weekly)

Great story and superb performance

This is a great story of how each of the major drug classes were discovered, from aspirin and antibiotics, to antidepressants and anti psychotics. A delightful read for a scientist and a layperson alike!

Fascinating book!!!

Fascinating book with invaluable insight into things we take for granted without being overly wonk-ish. In ways both good and bad you will never look at big Pharma the same again

Very interesting and enlightening

One of those books that makes you smarter, but not necessarily more hopeful. A very interesting history of diseases and treatments, and a real insight into the pharmaceutical industry and what it takes to develop new drugs. I have read other books on the historical aspects, but this one brings it into our current day situation.

Well told explanation of issues facing pharma

We Americans have strong opinions about our healthcare system but we don't really understand it. Drug Hunters provides an exceptional first hand account of how challenging prospecting for new drugs can be. Extremely well told and so interesting I went from start to finish in one session.

Excellent Read (listen)

I found this book interesting enjoyable and educational. The author does a terrific job of taking us back in time to the beginning of man’s use of medication‘s. And shows that the process involved in discovering medication back then is connected to the processes we still have today. As a physician I found it particularly enlightening because I did not fully appreciate the discovery methods that he divulged. The story behind each discovery is presented in a way that engages the listener’s interest and curiosity, such that it’s hard to turn the recording off until the explanation of the discovery is concluded. The book is also written in a way where are you do not need to be a physician or have any medical knowledge, I think he presents a great explanation of how we get our drugs and the process involved in doing that. As far as understanding the expense of big Pharma and the reasons behind the great costs of medication, the reader gets some hint as to why that’s the case. Although there are many other reasons for the increased price having to do with FDA regulations that probably are solvable however that’s not the purpose of this book.

Enjoyed it very much

Great book. Was much better than I expected with a ton if interesting stories and info. Want to listen to it again just in case I missed anything.

Fascinating Non-fiction

What did you love best about The Drug Hunters?

Really interesting anecdotes and histories of various remedies. So many of the drugs we take for granted today are the products of lots of perseverance, lots of knowing a good thing when you see it (that can take a long time) and lots and LOTS of luck.

Who was your favorite character and why?

N/A

What does James Foster bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I gave the narration 5 stars because the narrator never got in the way of the text. He was interested, actually knew how to pronounce all of the words, and I never said to myself, "that was an interesting choice on the narrator's part." Which means, as I said, he read it well and lively, but let the text be the main event.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

"And you thought you already liked drugs!"

Any additional comments?

This did just what I think non-fiction audio books are supposed to do. I was entertained and educated at the same time. The stories are about the people who made the breakthroughs, not about the boring (lets face it) chemicals themselves.

Great listen!

I enjoyed every second of this book. In the dish into enjoying it, I learned a tremendous amount about drug hunting and our medications and how they are made. I strongly recommend this book to anyone in science for get low network connection how do I get a network connection is a lock on

Interesting Subject Matter, Easily Understood

I really liked this book on audio. It was interesting, informative and written on a level where a non-science person like myself can understand it. I knew that big pharma's main goal is profits, but I never thought that they pulled back on research for some of the drugs that won't make them money - things like antibiotics, where someone takes one course and that's it versus insulin or high blood pressure meds that need to be taken daily. The other big surprise was how much luck factors into whether a drug is found for a particular ailment. In addition to learning how drugs come to be, the author also gives a historical perspective of the industry and shows how little has changed when it comes to finding new drugs that work. There were also some humorous spots, such as when his wife though they were going to the beach for a weekend and instead, he had her drive him around so he could collect his drug hunting samples. This was so interesting, I listened to it in almost one sitting.

Amazing book

A lot of interesting information about how drugs are discovered and how many of medications work.