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The true story of how a neglected cancer compound sold for pennies became the blockbuster drug Imbruvica, minting billionaires and remaking the biotech industry while leaving many of its scientific creators behind.
A profile of this book is on the way.
What it’s about
For Blood and Money is a gripping business narrative that follows the improbable journey of a BTK inhibitor—originally designed as a mere laboratory tool and later purchased for as little as $1,000—from the bottom of a test tube to a multi-billion-dollar cancer medicine. Nathan Vardi weaves together the stories of an unconventional Scientologist entrepreneur with no biotech experience, a secretive hedge-fund trader who bets a third of his fortune on a single molecule, doctors racing to end the horrors of chemotherapy for leukemia patients, and the scientists whose work made it all possible. It is a page-turning account of drug development, high-stakes finance, ambition, betrayal, and the misalignment between the capital that funds cancer breakthroughs and the labor that creates them—revealing how the modern biotechnology boom actually works and who ultimately profits from lifesaving science.
The through-line
- Who it’s for
- A reader fascinated by how breakthrough drugs, high-stakes finance, and ambition intersect—someone who wants to understand how a lifesaving medicine and enormous fortunes are actually made.
- The problem
- The path from a laboratory molecule to an approved blockbuster drug is opaque, improbable, and littered with failure and hidden power struggles. The reader feels that the world of biotech and cancer drugs is impenetrable, and suspects that the official stories of scientific triumph obscure who really wins and loses.
- The plan
- Follow the molecule's journey from Celera's test tube through Pharmacyclics and Acerta to blockbuster approval.
- Meet the outsiders, financiers, scientists, and doctors whose choices and conflicts shaped the drug's fate.
- Learn how trial design, regulatory strategy, and capital structure determine which drugs reach patients and who profits.
- See the human costs and rewards—the firings, the fortunes, the patients saved—behind the biotech boom.
- Draw lessons about conviction, ownership, incentives, and the misalignment between capital and labor.
- The payoff
- The reader gains a clear-eyed understanding of how biotech drug development, finance, and regulation actually function. · The reader can see past sanitized success narratives to the real dynamics of risk, reward, and recognition. · The reader appreciates both the genuine medical progress of BTK inhibitors and the human stories behind them.
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Additional reading
- Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health · L. Ron Hubbard
This foundational text of Scientology deeply influenced Bob Duggan's worldview and management style, which he credited for his business success at Pharmacyclics.
- Article on 24 characteristics of geniuses · Alfred Barrios
Originally published in the National Enquirer, this article formed the basis of Bob Duggan's 'Genius' corporate training program at Pharmacyclics, a core part of his unconventional leadership.
- The Billion-Dollar Molecule · Barry Werth
The author's first book on Vertex, providing the detailed backstory of the company's founding, its initial scientific mission, and the people who established its culture.
- Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies · Jim Collins and Jerry Porras
This book's concepts, particularly the 'Big Hairy Audacious Goal' (BHAG), were explicitly used by Vertex leadership to frame and execute its long-term strategic and cultural development process.
- Zenobia: The Curious Book of Business · Matthew Emmens and Beth Kephart
Written by Joshua Boger's successor as CEO, this book outlines the management philosophy Emmens brought to Vertex as he guided its transition into a commercial organization.
- Pharmaplasia · Michael Wokasch
Mentioned in the afterword, this book provides a critical diagnosis of the ills of 'Big Pharma'—'rapid uncontrolled growth'—which Vertex was founded to be an 'antidote' to.
- The Eighth Day of Creation · Horace Freeland Judson
The book cites this as a key source for understanding the revolution in molecular biology, providing the broad scientific context in which Vertex was founded.
- The Puzzle People · Thomas E. Starzl
This autobiography is cited as an invaluable source for understanding Dr. Starzl's work, which is central to the story of FK-506 and the clinical landscape Vertex sought to enter.
- Gene Dreams · Robert Teitleman
The book refers to this as the 'best primer' on the biotech industry, offering essential background on the business environment, financial challenges, and competitive pressures facing startups like Vertex.
- Illness as Metaphor · Susan Sontag
The book frequently references Sontag's work to discuss how society uses punitive and mystifying metaphors for diseases like cancer and tuberculosis, and how these metaphors shape the patient's experience.