Interferon: The Science And Selling Of A Miracle Drug
Editorial Reviews
Review
"This book is compelling reading for those interested in the IFN story, including the historical background and the scientists behind the discovery. The book is a thorough and readable account that is unique for IFN and has parallels with other major discoveries.."
-Samuel Baron, M.D.University of Texas Medical Branch
"Pieters focuses on answering one intriguing question: Why does interferon enjoy a public reputation similar to penicillin's even though it remains a treatment confined almost entirely to specialty diseases? In its answer, the book succeeds admirably."
-Fran Balkwill, Ph.D. Barts and the London Queen Mary's Medical School, New England Journal of Medicine
Book Description
This innovative study charts the beginnings, history and fate of Interferon--one of modern medicine's most famous and infamous drugs. Interferon is part of the medical profession's armory against viral infection, cancer and MS. The story of its development and use is one of survival in the face of remarkable cycles of promise and disappointment as a miracle drug. By telling this story, Toine Pieters' book provides insight into the research, manufacture, and marketing of new bio-molecules that mark modern medical science.
Pieters' closely argued book adopts a multi-disciplinary approach in seeking to trace the extraordinary voyage of interferon. Through the lens of interferon's voyage, the book explores the interaction of the broad range of actors driving medical science such as:
* Biological and clinical researchers
* The pharmaceutical industry
* High-powered government agencies
* Doctors and patients
* The media
The book demonstrates how research on interferon led to new clinical definitions of cancer and a new rationale for therapeutic use of the drug. Interferon provides a marvelous insight into the development of one of the most controversial drugs of our time. It enhances our understanding of how medicine manufacture and marketing all played a part in pushing back the boundaries of research, from the post-penicillin era to the genetics revolution in medicine.
This study is of particular interest to undergraduates and postgraduates in the fields of History of Medicine, Pharmacology, Medical Genetics and History of Science.
Interferon: The Science And Selling Of A Miracle Drug
Interferon: The Science And Selling Of A Miracle Drug,Toine Pieters,Routledge,0415342465,1931-1939,Anarchism,Business & Economics,Business/Economics,Economics - General,Europe - Spain & Portugal,General,History,History - General History,Modern - 20th Century,Political Ideologies - General,Politics and government,Spain,Syndicalism,Pharmacology
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