Frank S. David: How to learn about biotech and pharma

Frank S. David, Founder and Managing Director of Pharmagellan and Professor of the Practice of Biotech at Tufts University Department of Biology, shared a post on LinkedIn:

“Many students ask me how to learn about the drug development biz — here’s the advice I give to them. Lots of good books, articles, etc. here.

How to learn about biotech and pharma

Since joining Tufts University Department of Biology, I’ve been helping upper-level biology majors and biology MS/PhD students explore non-academic / non-medical career options. Many them have questions about biotech and pharma: What are these industries, how do they function, and what do folks who work there do, anyway?

I’m using this post as a “living list” of the resources I recommend to students who want to learn about the drug industry, and I hope to add to it over time. If you have suggestions for things to add or complaints about broken links, please add a comment, DM me via LinkedIn, or email me at [email protected]. (Last update: 11/20/2024.)

Contents of this post:

• High-level overviews of biopharma
• Recommended books
• Intro to biopharma careers
• Groups to check out
• News sources to follow

1. High-level overview of biopharma

My Tufts course “Molecules, Medicines, and Markets” is a soup-to-nuts overview of how biopharma companies turn science into drugs and drugs into money. The resources below are from the reading lists for the first few sessions, in which students get a quick overview of the process and economics behind the entire journey to frame up the rest of the course.

“Biopharma 101”

“The pharma industry from Paul Janssen to today: why drugs got harder to develop and what we can do about it” by Alex Telford is long but extremely worthwhile.

“Basics of drug development for those unfamiliar with the industry” by Richard Murphey of Bay Bridge Bio is a great intermediate-length overview.

“Pharmaceutical product life cycle”by The Pharma Marketer and “The process and costs of drug development” by For the Love of Science are short and very accessible.

The business side

The video “rNPV explained” by Paul Janssen at Futurelab Leiden is a highly accessible intro to risk-adjusted net present value, which underlies a lot of how companies decide which R&D programs to pursue (or not).

“Is drug R&D more like poker or chess?” is a solid intro to biopharma R&D strategy by drug development executive Robert Plenge.

“The truly staggering cost of inventing new drugs” is an oldie-but-goodie by one of the most prolific and respected biopharma journalists, Matthew Herper.

2. Recommended books

In general, there are two types of useful books for beginners to learn about biopharma. As the name implies, story- and character-driven “narrative non-fiction” books about drug development focus on individual medicines, companies, and/or personalities. They’re great if you want an easy read to give you a “behind the scenes” sense of the ups and downs of the drug industry. The classic one I recommend to every newbie is The Billion Dollar Moleculeby Barry Werth, about the early years of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, but there are many other great ones.

“Big idea” books in biopharma are well-referenced, usually opinionated reports on specific sub-topics intended for “smart non-experts”. Peter Kolchinsky’s The Great American Drug Deal is a good example here, focused on drug pricing.

Instead of going through all the possible books to read in these categories, I’ve provided below some decent reading lists that contain plenty of great suggestions.

• My “top 5 list” for newbies (including the two above) is here.
• This list of ~30 biotech books compiled by Founder-Led Biotech includes ones in both categories above, as well as some that are more business-focused. You’ll have to spend a few minutes reading the descriptions on Amazon, but there are many winners here.
• This mega-list of 100+ books, curated by Biotech Due Diligence, contains many hits across all categories. Like the FLB list, you’ll have to do some manual curation to find your way.
• This list by Drug Hunter covers the categories above plus more specialized/focused areas like chemistry and toxicology. Again, you’ll be rewarded if you do some digging.

Just to be clear: A third category of biopharma books is references in the almost infinite number of rabbit holes one can go down related to biopharma. Sub-areas like pharmaceutical chemistry, pharmacology, clinical trials, regulatory, US healthcare systems, etc. all have their own useful resources. (For example, I wrote a guide to learning how to analyze clinical trials.) I’d put these books in the “intermediate” category, and since this post is meant to focus on beginners, I’m not covering them in depth here. However, you’ll find some examples from this bucket scattered within the lists above.

3. Introduction to biopharma careers

Many students want to not only understand how drugs are made, but also start to explore possible job paths in the industry. (There are also many “biopharma-adjacent” career opportunities in areas like finance and consulting, but I’m not going to discuss those here.)

By far, the best resource in this area is Career Opportunities in Biotechnology and Drug Development by Toby Freedman. It’s a great overview of the different roles and functions within biopharma across R&D, commercial, operations, manufacturing, etc., what they do, and how folks get into them.

4. Groups to check out

One of the best ways to learn about biopharma is to go to in-person and virtual talks run by university biotech clubs. In greater Boston, the two most active are the GSAS Harvard Biotech Club and the MIT Biotechnology Group; both have free email newsletters that list tons of local and virtual events (as well as full- and part-time job opportunities). The HBC also hosts an annual career fair and runs several courses. Many of the events these groups run are free and open to anyone — you don’t need to be affiliated with one of those schools.

If you’re a university student, you should also get involved with your own institution’s biotech club if it exists. Some schools, like Tufts, have separate chapters (or sometimes entirely distinct groups) at the arts/sciences and medical campuses.

5. News sources to follow

A great way to learn about the drug industry is to follow the news. We are fortunate in biopharma to have several amazing industry-focused news outlets that cover all aspects of the business, from emerging science to the market. Two of the most prominent and well-respected are STAT and Endpoints.

The best way to get started is by subscribing to each venue’s once-daily email newsletter and clicking through to read at least one article every day or so that you find interesting. You’ll be amazed at how much you’ll learn!

Most (but not all) of the content is free, and if you’re a student, your school’s library may have a subscription that lets you access paywalled articles with your university login.”