Triumph of the Heart: The Story of Statins

Over 25 million people in the U.S. alone have benefited from statins--such drugs as Lipitor, Zocor, Crestor, Pravachol, and other cholesterol-lowering medicines--in preventing stroke, heart attack, and other forms of coronary heart disease. But how did these remarkable, life-saving drugs come into being? In Triumph of the Heart, Dr. Jie Jack Li, a medicinal chemist and expert on drug discovery, tells for the first time the fascinating story of statins. Drawn from discussions with many scientists involved in the discovery and development of these drugs, the book illuminates the human side of science by revealing the role played by persistence, luck, and sudden insight that characterize major discoveries. For scientists in the drug industry, health care professionals, students of medicine, and all those intrigued by the basic human drive to explore and discover, Triumph of the Heart offers a compelling view of one of the most important drug discoveries of our time.

Jie Jack Li currently works at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. He was previously a medicinal chemist Parke-Davis Pharmaceuticals (which was bought in 2000 and closed in 2007 by Pfizer), the birth place of Lipitor. He is the author of Laughing Gas, Viagra, and Lipitor: The Human Stories behind theDrugs We Use (OUP 2006). He lives in Connecticut.

Books by same authorThe Art of Drug Synthesis Doug S. Johnson, Jie Jack Li, Eds., Wiley & Sons: Hoboken, NJ, 2007. Name Reactions for Functional Group Transformations, Jie Jack Li, Ed., Wiley & Sons: Hoboken, NJ, 2007. Modern Organic Synthesis in the Laboratory, A Collection of StandardExperimental Procedures, Jie Jack Li, Chris Limberakis, Derek A. Pflum, Oxford University Press: New York, NY, 2007. Laughing Gas, Viagra, and Lipitor, The Human Stories behind the Drugs We Use. Jie Jack Li, Oxford University Press: New York, NY, 2006. Contemporary Drug Synthesis Jie Jack Li, Douglas S. Johnson, Drago D. Sliskovic, Bruce D. Roth, Wiley & Sons: Hoboken, NJ, 2004; Chinese version, 2005. Name Reactions in Heterocyclic Chemistry, Jie Jack Li, Ed., Wiley & Sons: Hoboken, NJ, 2004. Name Reactions, A Collection of Detailed Reaction Mechanisms, Third and Expanded Edition, Jie Jack Li, Springer: Heidelberg, Germany, 2006. Palladium in Heterocyclic Chemistry, Jie Jack Li, Gordon W. Gribble, Tetrahedron Organic Chemistry Series, Vol. 20, 2000, Pergamon/Elsevier, Vol. 26, 2006.