Ten Drugs

by Thomas Hager

A very interesting and straightforward read taking you through the history of drugs, through the stories of ten of the most influential drugs ever developed.

What is particularly noteworthy is how, if we think today's Big Pharma is a profit seeking danger to humanity, in the past it was much worse. Up until about 100 years ago there was no effective regulation of drugs prior to their release. Pharamceutical companies could just create any old concoction and sell it to willing buyers. Only once the side-effects, often deadly, were noticed, would governments step in to regulate the drugs. Even that is quite recent. In the mid-19th century drug development was already quite advanced in some respects. But regulation there was none. It was all down to luck.

Talking about luck. That also seems to be the way most drugs were, and often still are, actually discovered. Normally this was as a side-effect of what was trying to be produced, with the involvement of a curious and very observant researcher.

The author's take-away from all this, is that yes "Big Pharma" is trying to maximise profits, sometimes even at the expense of the health of the population. But the reasons for this are two-fold:

1. The costs involved in creating successful drugs are so high, that they require a "blockbuster" drug which Big Pharma can run with for many years. The patent on the drug means there is time-limit to this profiteering, but it is needed in order to fund further research. This also means expanding the use of the drug to people who may or may not need it. Statins are a good example of this. But there are others.
2. Shareholder value laws basically force these companies to maximise their profits, as long as they do so legally.

My main insight is that when you next read that so-and-so society were using such-and-such a drug / herb / random mix over x hundred years ago, just look at how clever they were, how they knew what they were doing, take a small pause. Breathe. Then remember that for each one such drug they might have discovered there were probably a thousand that killed the patient. Except those were never documented and so you never heard about them. Trial and error was the main method of drug discovery. It still is, but at least we have some safeguards in place.

Started 01/11/2024. Finished 12/11/2024.