Includes bibliographical references (pages 301-305) and index

Hunting for the elusive "magic bullet" -- A hesitant start: Patents, politics, and process -- Breakthroughs at the bench -- The first medical applications -- Joy, disappointment, determination: Early clinical tests -- The wild West of antibody commercialization -- The challenge of monoclonal antibody drugs -- Antibody engineering: A renaissance for mab therapeutics -- Blockbuster mab drugs -- A quiet revolution: The legacy of monoclonal antibodies

This book is the first to tell the extraordinary yet unheralded history of monoclonal antibodies. Often referred to as Mabs, they are unfamiliar to most nonscientists, yet these microscopic protein molecules are everywhere, quietly shaping our lives and healthcare. Discovered in the mid-1970s in the laboratory where Watson and Crick had earlier unveiled the structure of DNA, Mabs have radically changed understandings of the pathways of disease. They have enabled faster, cheaper, and more accurate clinical diagnostic testing on a vast scale. And they have played a fundamental role in pharmaceutical innovation, leading to such developments as recombinant interferon and insulin, and personalized drug therapies such as Herceptin. Today Mabs constitute six of the world's top ten blockbuster drugs and make up a third of new introduced treatments. -- from dust jacket