Behind every landmark drug is a story. It could be an oddball researcher's genius insight, a catalyzing moment in geopolitical history, a new breakthrough technology, or an unexpected but welcome side effect discovered during clinical trials. Piece together these stories, as Thomas Hager does in this remarkable, century-spanning history, and you can trace the evolution of our culture and the practice of medicine. Beginning with opium, the "joy plant," which has been used for 10,000 years, Hager tells a captivating story of medicine. His subjects include the largely forgotten female pioneer who introduced smallpox inoculation to Britain, the infamous knockout drops, the first antibiotic, which saved countless lives, the first antipsychotic, which helped empty public mental hospitals, Viagra, statins, and the new frontier of monoclonal antibodies.

In 1900 only a handful of drugs (morphine, quinine, aspirin, etc) had genuine efficacy but had little value for bacterial or viral infections or cancer. These conditions were usually untreatable. Now there are literally thousands of drugs which offer cures or greatly extended life-spans for those with life-threatening conditions. Life Saving Drugs: the Elusive Magic Bullet describes the discovery and development of antibacterial, anti-viral and anti-cancer drugs. The book highlights the colourful characters behind the inventions and the huge improvements in quality of life and life-expectancy that these drugs have produced. Emphasis is given to the new drugs that have emerged as a result of knowledge of the human genome, and the ways in which the newer drugs are being designed to tackle disease, particularly cancer, at the genetic level. Chemical structures are provided for all of the key drugs and the book is well illustrated. Life Saving Drugs: the Elusive Magic Bullet can be read as a history of drug development during the past 100 years by those with only a passing knowledge of chemistry.

A clear, concise discourse of 300 years of malarial drug research. Presents a historical overview of antimalarial medicines and examines future challenges in the discovery and development of effective treatments and control strategies. Provides new perspectives on the creative process of drug discovery and the challenges of overcoming drug resistance. Discusses the use of larvicides, bednets, and DDT as well as recombinant DNA and monoclonal antibodies to block malaria transmission from mosquitoes to humans. Serves as a resource for microbiologists, parasitologists, pharmacologists, medicinal chemists, biochemists, physicians, and drug researchers.

In Drugged, Miller takes readers on an eye-opening tour of psychotropic drugs, describing the various kinds, how they were discovered and developed, and how they have played multiple roles in virtually every culture. The vast scope of chemicals that cross the blood-brain barrier boggle the very brain they reach: cannabis and cocaine, antipsychotics and antidepressants, alcohol, amphetamines, and Ecstasy - and much more. Literate and wide-ranging, Miller weaves together science and history, telling the story of the undercover theft of 20,000 tea plants from China by a British spy, for example, the European discovery of coffee and chocolate, and how James Wolfgang von Goethe, the famous man of letters, first isolated the alkaloid we now know as caffeine. Miller explains what scientists know - and don't - about the impact of each drug on the brain, down to the details of neurotransmitters and their receptors. He clarifies the differences between morphine and heroin, mescaline and LSD, and other similar substances. Drugged brims with surprises, revealing the fact that antidepressant drugs evolved from the rocket fuel that shot V2 rockets into London during World War II, highlighting the role of hallucinogens in the history of religion, and asking whether Prozac can help depressed cats.Entertaining and authoritative, Drugged is a truly fascinating book.