Books about Biotech from Amazon.com

Entrepreneur's Notebook propels you on a whirlwind tour of the start-up process. It is an invaluable reference for new and experienced entrepreneurs that includes chapters on a wide range of topics, from entrepreneurial team building to business plans to financing. This excellent book provides an incredible amount of practical information that will help you make smarter decisions and avoid costly mistakes. The author, Steven K. Gold, is an accomplished entrepreneur who has co-founded and led five early-stage ventures. As an investor and mentor, he also advises many entrepreneurs and young companies. He earned his B.S.E. in Entrepreneurial Management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and his M.D. from Brown University Medical School..
Price: $9.70 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Widely regarded as the most innovative, successful biotech firm ever, Amgen led its industry in revenue and sales growth in 2007. Top magazines including Fortune and Industry Week have repeatedly named it one of America's best companies to work for.

In Science Lessons, Gordon Binder--CEO and chairman during 1988-2000--describes Amgen's climb to success. Revealing the highs and lows it experienced in the race to develop blockbuster drugs, he takes readers from the time Amgen had just three months of capital in the bank and no viable products in the pipeline to its spectacular success. The turning point? The 1989 launch of Epogen, which dramatically helped kidney dialysis patients suffering from debilitating anemia. Other landmark drugs, including Neupogen, would follow.

Through engaging anecdotes and cogent insights, Binder weaves a fascinating tale while offering his unique brand of practical management advice. Using the principals of the scientific method, he shares his recommendations for tackling pressing business challenges--such as managing creative employees, navigating the IPO process, and protecting intellectual property.

This colorful first-person account showcases the visionary science and daring business strategy that made Amgen great--offering valuable lessons for all companies..
Price: $17.25 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Why has the biotechnology industry failed to perform up to expectations—despite all its promise? In Science Business, Gary P. Pisano answers this question by providing an incisive critique of the industry. Pisano not only reveals the underlying causes of biotech’s problems; he offers the most sophisticated analysis yet on how the industry works. And he provides clear prescriptions for companies, investors, and policymakers seeking ways to improve the industry’s performance.

According to Pisano, the biotech industry’s problems stem from its special character as a science-based business. This character poses three unique business challenges: 1) how to finance highly risky investments under profound uncertainty and long time horizons for R&D, 2) how to learn rapidly enough to keep pace with advances in drug science knowledge, and 3) how to integrate capabilities across a broad spectrum of scientific and technological knowledge bases.

The key to fixing the industry? Business models, organizational structures, and financing arrangements that place greater emphasis on integration and long-term learning over shorter-term “monetization” of intellectual property. Pisano maintains that all industry players—biotech firms, investors, universities, pharmaceutical companies, government regulators—can play a role in righting the industry. The payoff? Valuable improvements in health care, and a shinier future for human well-being..
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As the world of biotechnology has grown in leaps and bounds, so too have the career opportunities But the choices can be daunting What types of jobs are available? How do you get your foot in the door? What will your job entail if you become a "Preclinical Project Manager" or a "Process Scientist"? What s the difference between biotech and pharma?

Career Opportunities in Biotechnology and Drug Development provides a comprehensive and systematic overview of careers in the life science industry, with all their ups and downs. The author, Toby Freedman, Ph.D., has conducted interviews with hundreds of key players in the industry, who provide first hand explanations of their day to day roles and responsibilities, and offer key insights into how they landed those jobs in the first place. Careers in everything from discovery research to venture capital are covered in detail.

Each chapter includes valuable sections on preparing yourself for a prospective career: educational requirements and personality characteristics needed; recommendations of books, magazines, and Web site resources; and issues to consider regarding salary and compensation. The book also includes interviewing and job searching tips, as well as suggestions on writing a resume specifically for industry.

Career Opportunities in Biotechnology and Drug Development is an essential guide for science graduates and medical, business, legal, high tech or engineering professionals. With discussions of job security, future trends, and potential career paths, even those already working in industry will find helpful information on how to take advantage of opportunities available within their own companies and elsewhere. This book will help you make wiser and more informed decisions about what role you would like to play in the biotechnology and drug development industry.

Related Titles from the Publisher
An Illustrated Chinese-English Guide for Biomedical Scientists;
At the bench: A Laboratory Navigator, Updated Edition;
At the Helm: A Laboratory Navigator;
CSH Protocols Laboratory Research Notebook;
Experimental Design for Biologists;
Lab Dynamics: Managing Skills for Scientists;
Lab Math: A Handbook of Measurements, Calculations, And other Quantitative Skills for Use at the Bench;
Lab Ref, Volume 1: A Handbook of Recipes, Reagents, and Other Reference Tools for Use at the Bench;
Lab Ref, Volume 2: A Handbook of Recipes, Reagents, and Other Reference Tools for Use at the Bench;
Safety Sense.
Price: $54.28 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This book is the first complete guide to valuation in life sciences for industry professionals, investors, and academics Boris Bogdan and Ralph Villiger introduce the characteristics of drug and medical device development, explain how to translate these into the valuation, and provide valuable industry data. After guiding the reader through the theory of valuation, including discounted cash-flow and real options, the authors demonstrate how to value projects, patents, licences, firms and stocks on real-life examples, even treating complex licence and company structures. Special emphasis is put on the practicability of the proposed methods by including many hands-on examples, without compromising on realistic results. Ralph Villiger and Boris Bogdan have written what is sure to become the industry standard reference for valuation of pharmaceutical and biotechnology projects and companies. At a time when the healthcare industry is placing increasing emphasis on licensing and M&A as a core strategy this book provides a firm understanding of the way in which products and businesses can be valued at all stages of their development.

Dr. Martin Buckland, Chief Business Officer, Astex Therapeutics, Cambridge, UK

The book presents a number of innovative ideas, illustrated with practical examples that should improve decision-making in the drug development process, intellectual property evaluation, licensing and sublicensing. The authors make a persuasive case for the use of advanced techniques and the section on worked-examples should be particularly appealing to practitioners.

Dr. Martin Grossmann, Novartis Pharmaceuticals

There is no doubt that this book will become an essential reference tool for professionals in technology transfer, business developers and biotech companies, as well as the pharmaceutical industry and Life Science investors.

Jean-Pierre Saintouil, Director of Technology Transfer Department, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France

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Price: $75.77 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Just as science learned to decode DNA through reverse genetics, a little bit of reverse reading might help explain why NPR correspondent Daniel Charles set out to write the agrobiotech equivalent of fly-on-the-wall industry epics like World War 3.0, Liar's Poker, and Hit Men. Read the epilogue first--here's where he most eloquently explains the dueling American myths (of both scientific progress and the sanctity of the land as God-given gifts) that have fueled the recent battle of biotechnology against environmentalism and consumer advocacy over genetically modified crops. It's a necessarily stirring justification for a story that, however well told, may lack for a general audience some of the pathos or glamour of similar tussles within such fields as medicine or entertainment.

This is really the story of one company--American chemical giant Monsanto, which, some 20 years ago, pushed forward the technology of injecting different plants such as corn and soybeans with genes that would make them able to act as their own insecticides (insects would simply die upon eating them). From there, Monsanto went on to orchestrate a stunning takeover of much of the seed business, but its plans for what seemed like world agricultural domination were trounced when first European, then U.S. activists sparked a massive backlash against GMOs ("genetically modified organisms") pumped up with the company's patented genes--even absent substantive scientific evidence that genetically modified crops were any more harmful (or, for that matter, more modified) to people or the environment than those without designer genes.

Given the recent explosion of genetic research, it's fascinating to see the relatively primitive origins of this field in the early 1980s, and to discover the inner workings of world agribusiness, especially (as the farm-bred Charles rightly points out) in a society where most people have no idea where their food comes from, or what happens to it along the way. It's just that Charles's valiant attempt to make a bunch of nerdy, competitive scientists and soulless, profit-grubbing Monsanto execs interesting is mostly in vain. Still, you have to love the early '90s comedy of errors that was the grandiose launch and swift demise of the superengineered tomato--especially when an old-school tomato breeder tries to tell her boss, a biotech exec and agricultural illiterate, that nature's breeding process can't be accelerated to meet production goals. His curt response? "Think out of the box." (Or crate, as it were.) --Timothy Murphy.
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For most people, the global war over genetically modified foods is a distant and confusing one. The battles are conducted in the mystifying language of genetics.

A handful of corporate "life science" giants, such as Monsanto, are pitted against a worldwide network of anticorporate ecowarriors like Greenpeace. And yet the possible benefits of biotech agriculture to our food supply are too vital to be left to either partisan.

The companies claim to be leading a new agricultural revolution that will save the world with crops modified to survive frost, drought, pests, and plague. The greens warn that "playing God" with plant genes is dangerous. It could create new allergies, upset ecosystems, destroy biodiversity, and produce uncontrollable mutations. Worst of all, the antibiotech forces say, a single food conglomerate could end up telling us what to eat.

In Food, Inc., acclaimed journalist Peter Pringle shows how both sides in this overheated conflict have made false promises, engaged in propaganda science, and indulged in fear-mongering. In this urgent dispatch, he suggests that a fertile partnership between consumers, corporations, scientists, and farmers could still allow the biotech harvest to reach its full potential in helping to overcome the problem of world hunger, providing nutritious food and keeping the environment healthy.

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Price: $4.78 [Notify me when price goes down.]

As host of public radio's Tech Nation, Dr. Moira Gunn has long been known for making all aspects of science and technology meaningful to the general listening public. But when she spontaneously decided at a cocktail-fueled biotech industry event that she would be launching a weekly segment on biotech -- a subject that existed well outside of her normal comfort zone -- she had her work cut out for her. For the millions of people who now listen to BioTech Nation, the rest is history.

Going behind the science and business of biotech, the book rides along with Dr. Gunn as she interviews an interesting and colorful cast of characters from the industry, including a DNA scientist with ego to burn and a pharmaceutical exec with a penchant for Viagra. Filled with compelling stories of everything from the genetically modified food fight to the reasons why the presidential stem lines are dying, the book explores the fascinating theories and breakthroughs in this exciting field.

Funny, entertaining, and informative, Welcome to BioTech Nation is a unique, inside look at biotechnology today...and a glimpse at what could be in store for us tomorrow..
Price: $3.87 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The pharmaceutical industry is extremely complex, and so are the inner workings of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies operating within it. Even the most seasoned industry professionals may find it difficult to understand the activities of, and interdependencies among, all key functions within a pharmaceutical company. Yet this knowledge is crucial when the responsibilities for--or repercussions of--key initiatives ripple across an organization.

Understanding Pharma is a must-read for anyone in the pharmaceutical industry--those new to the industry, industry veterans, and those working in or serving the industry.

Gain an understanding of the inner workings of each functional area in the typical pharmaceutical company

Learn the interdependencies of each functional area and how they affect the company's strategic goals

Understand how each functional area impacts the company's financial success.

Topics covered in the book include:

The global scope of the pharmaceutical industry

Typical pharmaceutical company structure

Customer groups supply and demand drivers

Pharmaceutical product lifecycle

Drug Discovery

Drug Development

Business Development

Marketing

Sales

Managed Markets

Manufacturing

Distribution

Each function-specific chapter explains:

The role of that functional area in fulfilling the pharmaceutical company s mission

The impact of that functional area on company profitability and strategic vision

Key activities within that functional area

Understanding Pharma is an ideal resource for professionals in a wide variety of careers, including:

Sales

Marketing

Market Research

Medical Affairs

Business Development

Training

Contract Research

Medical Education

Advertising

Public Relations

Students preparing for careers in the pharmaceutical industry will also find it extremely effective in orienting them to their chosen field, and the industry as a whole.

Be sure your team has what it takes to succeed in this competitive environment. Understanding Pharma will provide the practical knowledge they need. Also be sure to check out the companion book, Lingua Pharma, the first comprehensive glossary of industry-related terms..
Price: $80.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

A positive, optimistic, and convincing case that the biotechnology revolution will improve our lives and the future of our children The 21st century will undoubtedly witness unprecedented advances in understanding the mechanisms of the human body and in developing biotechnology. With the mapping of the human genome, the pace of discovery is now on the fast track. By the middle of the century we can expect that the rapid progress in biology and biotechnology will utterly transform human life. What was once the stuff of science fiction may now be within reach in the not-too-distant future: 20-to-40-year leaps in average life spans, enhanced human bodies, drugs and therapies to boost memory and speed up mental processing, and a genetic science that allows parents to ensure that their children will have stronger immune systems, more athletic bodies, and cleverer brains. Even the prospect of human immortality beckons.

Such scenarios excite many people and frighten or appall many others. Already biotechnology opponents are organizing political movements aimed at restricting scientific research, banning the development and commercialization of various products and technologies, and limiting citizens' access to the fruits of the biotech revolution.

In this forward-looking book Ronald Bailey, science writer for Reason magazine, argues that the coming biotechnology revolution, far from endangering human dignity, will liberate human beings to achieve their full potentials by enabling more of us to live flourishing lives free of disease, disability, and the threat of early death. Bailey covers the full range of the coming biotechnology breakthroughs, from stem-cell research to third-world farming, from brain-enhancing neuropharmaceuticals to designer babies. Against critics of these trends, who forecast the nightmare society of Huxley's Brave New World, Bailey persuasively shows in lucid and well-argued prose that the health, safety, and ethical concerns raised by worried citizens and policymakers are misplaced.

Liberation Biology makes a positive, optimistic, and convincing case that the biotechnology revolution will improve our lives and the future of our children, while preserving and enhancing the natural environment..
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