< 1 minute read
Dec. 15, 2019
Drug Discovery Books
This table contains a list of some of the best drug discovery books and best books in related topics such as pharmacology, toxicology, pharmaceutics, and biotech in general. While nothing serves as a replacement for industry experience, a few books serve as useful references and offer glimpses into what real world drug discovery is like. We recommend this list of drug discovery books as generally useful technical references or insightful introductions to drug discovery beyond any single technical field.
If you have a suggestion that we've missed, feel free to reach out to info@drughunter.com.
| Book | Area | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Drug-like Properties: Concepts, Structure Design and Methods | ADMET | Widely recommended as an introductory reference for small molecule drug discovery, it has short descriptions and practical information about key drug properties, assays and other drug evaluation methods. |
| Pharmacokinetics Made Easy | DMPK | This small book quickly summarizes everything you need to know to get started understanding in vivo PK measurements. |
| Real World Drug Discovery | Small Molecule Drug Discovery | Written by an industry scientist, this is an introduction to industrial drug discovery with a strong focus on practical matters. |
| A Comprehensive Guide to Toxicology in Preclinical Drug Development | Toxicology | A comprehensive reference touching on most aspects of drug toxicology, implications, and methods to evaluate drugs. |
| Antitargets and Drug Safety | Toxicology | A useful handbook on off-targets, how to assay for them, and why. |
| Evaluation of Enzyme Inhibitors in Drug Discovery | Biochemistry | Copeland's fundamentals of biochemistry tailored to a drug discovery audience. |
| Assay Guidance Manual | Pharmacology eBook | The Assay Guidance Manual is the ultimate reference for details surrounding assays for biological activity. Maintained by Eli Lilly scientists and the NCATS, it is widely regarded as the tome for in vitro pharmacology. |
| Handbook of Pharmaceutical Salts | Pharmaceutical Science | A useful guide to drug salt forms, salt selection, and regulatory considerations. |
| Lead Generation | Drug Discovery | A comprehensive two-part series on how to identify starting chemical matter. |
| The Organic Chemistry of Enzyme-Catalyzed Reactions | Biochemistry | Mechanisms of how enzymes conduct their reactions, and how enzyme inhibitors work. |
| Goodman and Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics | Pharmacology | The ultimate introductory guide to how known drugs work, and a useful reference when evaluating new pathways or targets. |
| Billion-Dollar Molecule | Case Study | How Vertex formed and became the giant it is today, a great real-world look at what drug discovery can be like. |
| The Antidote | Case Study | How Vertex formed and became the giant it is today, a great real-world look at what drug discovery can be like. |
| The Emperor of All Maladies | Industry Context | The long history of cancer treatment and how broader societal movements (policy, regulatory affairs, clinical culture) influences medicine. Essential reading to understand the broader universe surrounding drug discovery. |
| Twisting Fate: My Journey with BRCA―from Breast Cancer Doctor to Patient and Back | Industry Context | A leading oncologist's personal experience dealing with BRCA-mutant breast cancer as a patient. Insightful, moving, and thought-provoking, it is a must-read to help understand both patient and physician perspectives, and appreciate why better drugs are needed. |
| The Great American Drug Deal | Industry Context | This book quickly explains pharma industry structure and the incentives of participants in the US health system, and concisely makes the argument that drug R&D one of the best societal investments we make. |
| Science Lessons: What the Business of Biotech Taught Me About Management | Case Study | An early Amgen insider's story of how Amgen began. Highlights many key traits of successful drug discovery programs, such as focusing on major unmet medical need. |
| The Pharmagellan Guide to Biotech Forecasting and Valuation | Finance | What is your research program worth? An introduction to how to assess and value research-based biotechs, which provides essential context to prioritizing programs. |
| Genentech: The Beginnings of Biotech | Case Study | A history of the founding of Genentech and the biotech industry, which is useful to understanding what it takes to break into new therapeutic space and how new modalities find their place in the industry. |
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