Short Synopsis
The surprising, behind-the-scenes story of how our medicines are discovered, told by a veteran drug hunter.

Full Synopsis
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 five-thousand-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.

"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

"Kirsch tells the fascinating stories of historic drug discoveries over the centuries . . . Highly informative and accessible for general readers." ---Kirkus

“A must-read for a 'behind the scenes' look at new drug development.” ---Madelyn Fernstrom, PhD, NBC News Health Editor