Top Drugs: Their History, Pharmacology, and Syntheses

Jie Jack Li

Jul 2015 · Oxford University Press

About this ebook

Drugs like Lipitor, Plavix, Taxol, and Zoloft are integral in today's medicinal world. These widely used products save lives and improve the quality of lives, playing a crucial role in everything from cholesterol management to cancer treatment. These advances in medicine were brought into existence after nuanced process of creation, featuring a wide range of chemical and pharmacological experimentation and discovery. Top Drugs: Their History, Pharmacology, and Synthesis provides an in-depth study on ten prominent drugs, outlining the chemistry behind each one's creation. Jie Jack Li, a medicinal chemist and an expert on drug discovery, offers a thorough analysis of the landscape of current drug development. The comprehensive text is divided by health issues, including cardiovascular, cancer, metabolic diseases, and infectious diseases. Each section features individual chapters on significant drugs, outlining the chemistry and history of the drug's discovery. Li begins each chapter with the product's history, providing necessary context. Li then proceeds to describe the mechanism of action, structure-activity relationship (SAR), bioavailability, metabolism, toxicology, the discovery route, and the process route. Top Drugs: Their History, Pharmacology, and Synthesis will acclimate students, scientists, and interested laypersons to the world of chemistry and drug discovery.

About the author

Jie Jack Li is a medicinal chemist who worked at Bristol Myers Squibb. He is currently an associate professor at University of San Francisco. He is an expert on drug discovery, and has published several books on the subject, including Blockbuster Drugs: The Rise and Decline of the Pharmaceutical Industry (Oxford University Press, 2014), Triumph of the Heart: The Story of Statins (Oxford University Press, 2009), and Modern Organic Synthesis in the Laboratory (Oxford University Press, 2007).