RACE FOR A REMEDY

How new cancer medications are invented and marketed.

Ahmed, executive director of AstraZeneca’s research and development in blood cancers, explores “the promise and the perils of drugs and their development adventures.” He offers a general overview of the pharmaceutical industry and its recent history, along with a behind-the-scenes perspective on the scientific, economic, and political dynamics of cancer drug development. The author educates readers about how scientists transform molecules into lifesaving or life-extending medicines, the complicated process of FDA approval for new cancer medicines, the intense competition among pharmaceutical companies in the pursuit of technical breakthroughs and the possible massive profits involved, and the prospects for next-generation cancer treatments such as cell therapy and modified antibodies. Several case studies illustrate Ahmed’s claims about how the drug industry operates, and detailed summations of his own experiences in drug development provide a keen sense of the industry’s complexities. Particularly well developed are sections covering the requirements of drug trials and the controversies they sometimes generate. Ahmed’s commentary on the pharmaceutical industry’s ethical character seems balanced overall, and he rightly dismisses conspiracy theories suggesting that companies have cynically suppressed treatments that might cure cancer in favor of marketing lucrative long-term therapies. The author could have written more about the merits of particular national health care policies, as well as where reforms are needed. In a long section discussing the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on drug development, for instance, Ahmed is curiously silent about the reasons behind the nation’s failure to respond effectively. A somewhat meandering style and loose organization of topics sometimes compromise the force of the narrative, but the author presents an intriguing insider’s account of his primary subject that should appeal to a fairly wide audience.

A revealing survey of the processes of drug approval and the future of cancer treatments.