How does a drug know what to cure, and what to leave alone? In a book that complements his earlier Murder, Magic, and Medicine (1992), Mann tells the story of how drugs-from the
earliest chemical preparations to today's designer prodrugs and engineered viruses-have been developed to treat bacterial infections,
viral infections, and cancer.
Curing disease, Mann argues, would be relatively easy if it weren't so necessary that the patient survive the treatment. Drugs that cure diseases but leave patients standing have come in leaps and bounds in recent years, but progress, while swift, can never be steady. Pathogens, for one thing, do not stand still; therefore, to take the obvious example…
