Foundations (Beginner)
Start here if you’re new to drug discovery. These books explain the basics clearly and are suited for students or early-career scientists.
Drugs: From Discovery to Approval | Drug discovery
This book outlines the key processes involved in bringing a drug to the market. It is suited for college audiences.
The Drug Discovery and Development Cycle | Drug discovery
For people considering a career in drug discovery, this book provides an overview of the process and the pharmaceutical industry.
Basic Principles of Drug Discovery and Development | Drug discovery
The book walks through the process of identifying a new drug and provides early career scientists with an understanding of the basics in the field.
Pharmacokinetics Made Easy \ Pharmacokinetics
This small book quickly summarizes everything you need to know to get started understanding in vivo pharmacokinetic measurements.
Goodman and Gilman's: The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics | Pharmacology
This is the ultimate introductory guide to how known drugs work. It is a useful reference when evaluating new pathways or targets.
Clinical Pharmacokinetics From The Beginning: A Practical Approach | Pharmaceutical science
This book explains pharmacokinetics from a practical angle and walks through how scientists run pharmakokinetics studies.
Core Scientific Skills (Intermediate)
Once you understand the basics, move into the technical sciences that underpin drug discovery.
Organic Chemistry of Enzyme-Catalyzed Reactions | Biochemistry
This book covers the mechanisms of how enzymes conduct their reactions and how enzyme inhibitors work.
Evaluation of Enzyme Inhibitors in Drug Discovery | Biochemistry
Robert Copeland discusses the fundamentals of biochemistry tailored to a drug discovery audience.
Foye's Principles of Medicinal Chemistry | Medicinal chemistry
This book is for scientists at any stage of their career. It explains the basics of structure-activity relationships, pharmacokinetics, metabolism, and more.
Drug-like Properties: Concepts, Structure Design and Methods | ADMET
Widely recommended as an introductory reference for small molecule drug discovery, it has short descriptions and practical information about key drug properties, assays, and other drug evaluation methods.
Handbook of Pharmaceutical Salts | Pharmaceutical science
A useful guide to drug salt forms that covers salt selection and regulatory considerations.
Assay Guidance Manual | Pharmacology ebook
The Assay Guidance Manual is the ultimate reference for information on assays for biological activity. Maintained by Eli Lilly scientists and the NCATS, the manual is widely regarded as the "tome" for in vitro pharmacology.
Lead Generation| Drug discovery
A comprehensive two-part series that discusses how to identify starting chemical matter.
Real World Drug Discovery | Small molecule drug discovery
Written by an industry scientist, this book is an introduction to industrial drug discovery with a strong focus on practical matters.
Specialized Topics (Advanced)
Dive deeper into specific challenges and cutting-edge areas.
Drug Selectivity: An Evolving Concept in Medicinal Chemistry | Medicinal chemistry
The book covers current approaches to drug selectivity. It discusses both the theory and practical aspects of these strategies.
RNA as a Drug Target: The Next Frontier for Medicinal Chemistry | Medicinal chemistry
RNA was once thought to be undruggable. This book discusses existing drugs that modulate RNA and outlines how to think about targeting the nucleic acid.
Protein Therapeutics | Drug discovery
Academic researchers and pharmaceutical experts discuss the theory and practive of developing protein-based therapeutics.
Transporters as Drug Targets | Drug discovery
This book describes the various transporter families thought to be possible drug targets and discusses approaches to targeting this type of protein.
The Medicinal Chemist's Guide to Solving ADMET Challenges | ADMET
Medicinal chemists and ADMET experts discuss design strategies for addressing ADMET issues.
A Comprehensive Guide to Toxicology in Preclinical Drug Development |Toxicology
This reference covers most aspects of drug toxicology and methods to evaluate drugs.
Antitargets and Drug Safety |Toxicology
This useful handbook discusses off-targets, how to assay for them, and why this is an important process.
Case Studies & Industry Insight
These books show how theory translates into real-world drug discovery and biotech success stories.
Chemistry and Pharmacology of Drug Discovery | Case study
This book collects case studies of 20 drugs approved by the FDA after 2021--some of which are first-in-class. The case studies look at the biology of the targets, the discovery process, and efficacy and safety studies.
Drug Discovery with Privileged Building Blocks | Case study
This book summarizes high-quality building blocks that are crucial to the biological activities of molecules. This is a good book for new and experienced medicinal chemists.
The Billion-Dollar Molecule | Case study
This book tells the story of how Vertex formed and became the giant it is today. It is a great real-world look at what drug discovery can be like.
Science Lessons: What the Business of Biotech Taught Me About Management | Case study
An early Amgen insider tells the story of how the company started. The book highlights key traits of successful drug discovery programs, such as focusing on a major unmet medical need.
Genentech: The Beginnings of Biotech | Case study
The Messenger: Moderna, the Vaccine, and the Business Gamble That Changed the World |Case study
A Wall Street Journal reporter tells the story of how Moderna went from a struggling biotech company to a global industry player with the development of their Covid-19 vaccine.
Moonshot: Inside Pfizer's Nine-Month Race to Make the Impossible Possible | Case study
Pfizer's CEO Albert Bourla tells the story behind the comapny's race to develop the Covid-19 vaccine.
Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom | Case study
A journalist investigates the fraud, falsified data, and safety concerns of the generic drug industry.
The Antidote | Case study
This sequel to The Billion-Dollar Molecule continues the tale of how Vertex formed and became a pharmaceutical giant.
Industry Context & Strategy
Finally, broaden your perspective with books that explain the business, history, and societal impact of drug discovery.
The Drug Hunters: The Improbable Quest to Discover New Medicines | History
The book tells the history of how people have discovered medicines, from the Neolithic preiod to today. It's a great read for fans of drug history.
The Emperor of All Maladies | Industry context
This Pulitzer Prize-winning book discusses the long history of cancer treatment and how broader societal movements (policy, regulatory affairs, and clinical culture) have influenced medicine. It is essential reading to understand the broader universe surrounding drug discovery.
Twisting Fate: My Journey with BRCA―from Breast Cancer Doctor to Patient and Back | Industry context
A leading oncologist tells her personal experience dealing with BRCA-mutant breast cancer as a patient. Insightful, moving, and thought-provoking, it is a must-read to help understand both patient and physician perspectives, and appreciate why better drugs are needed.
The Great American Drug Deal | Industry context
This book quickly explains the structure of the pharmaceutical industry and the incentives of participants in the US health system. It concisely makes the argument that drug R&D is one of the best societal investments we make.
Building Backwards to Biotech: The Power of Entrepreneurship to Drive Cutting-Edge Science to Market | Industry context
This book outlines how to build a succesful biotech company, discussing raising capital, mitigating business and scientific risk, and more.
From Breakthrough to Blockbuster: The Business of Biotechnology | Industry context
This book highlights the rise of biotech companies and how it was aided by a collection of different groups, including academics, venture capitalists, and contract research organizations.
The Pharmagellan Guide to Biotech Forecasting and Valuation | Finance
What is your research program worth? This book provides an introduction to how to assess and value research-based biotechs, which provides essential context to prioritizing program
The Pharmagellan Guide to Analyzing Biotech Clinical Trials |Clinical studies
A non-expert's guide to understanding and evaluating the complex results of clinical studies.