Book presentation: Great Medicines In The Fight For Life

The first book written for public at large about medicines has been presented in Moscow. The authors, brought together by Vladislav Dorofeev, a well-known journalist and writer, collected facts and wrote their stories of the inventions and discoveries of ether and aspirin, haloperidol and smallpox vaccine, penicillin and Prozac, Viagra and Herceptin, hydrocortisone and cocaine, Losec and vitamins, insulin and lidocaine, and many others. By telling all these stories in an entertaining way, and invariably keeping true to the facts, the authors were not only able to take readers on a fascinating journey into the history and the present day of the drugs in our medicine box, but also provided an insight into pharmacy.
 

"We have written this book to show the inside of scientific research and the people who devoted their lives to create drugs that are used by our generation and will be used by the generations to come,” Vladislav Dorofeev explains. “Just imagine: people have been taking aspirin for more than a hundred years, nitroglycerin has been saving lives of heart patients for half a century. And, despite the fact that these medicines, and many others, are, without exaggeration, great human triumph, very few people know their history or their creators. In our book, we decided to pay them tribute.”

The presentation of the book featured speeches by the authors, who are professional journalists specializing in health care matters: Konstantin Anokhin, Ada Gorbacheva, Alena Zhukova, Polina Zvezdina, Galina Kostina, Elena Mekshun, Natalia Mushketerova, Daria Nikolaeva, Ekaterina Pichugina. The event was attended by Vladimir Shipkov, the Executive Director of the Association of International Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, and Ivan Blanarik, CEO of Boehringer Ingelheim.

"The book, which is based on materials collected by a group of enthusiasts, sheds light on the milestones of the health care history in the world. It is equally fascinating for people of different ages and occupations”, Vladimir Shipkov commented. “Thanks to the pharmaceutical industry the human succeeded in overcoming diseases that had previously been thought incurable, in reducing mortality, increasing life expectancy and significantly improving the quality of life, which gave great momentum to further progress. This is highlighted not as often as it should be, so the release of this book, the first in its kind, is a very special moment for our industry. I hope that this initiative will be continued.”

"These days, pharmaceuticals is one of the most innovative industries,” Ivan Blanarik said. “It accounts for 20 % of the total annual investment in research and development. Each of the drugs was created by many years of hard work, which involved considerable financial risks. But thanks to these developments it has become possible to solve most urgent problems of health care practice and ensure its further progress. We hope that in the future it will be more effective and affordable, always coming in time to prevent tragedy.”

“Great Medicines In The Fight For Life” is a unique example of a book that brings together a true history of pharmacy and the life-stories of its heroes, often obscure. With reference information on current medicines; the book is a real page-turner. As the book has been written with the support from industry experts, it can be regarded as a reliable source of information, a guidebook to the world of medicines we use today and those we will use in future. Never before has there been a book like this in the history of pharmaceutics.