Science AMA Series: My name is Dr. Josh Bloom and I spent 27 years in
Big Pharma. Now I write for a science media non-profit. Ask me anything!
Abstract
Hi reddit! After getting my PhD in organic chemistry, the first 27 years
of my career were in new drug discovery—the lengthy process (typically
10-15 years) during which a potential drug will go from a lab to your
local pharmacy. As you probably know, success in drug discovery is so
rare that in a 20 year career, a medicinal chemist has about a 5%
chance of discovering something that works. During that time, the
antibiotic group I led actually did get something to hospital
pharmacies. It was called Tygacil—a novel antibiotic to treat
resistant infections. However, it is rarely used because of significant
side effects. Yet I am proud of our other accomplishments related to
HIV, hepatitis C, and oncology. Though none of these campaigns resulted
in an approved drug, the research that we did helped develop the science
base that other companies would build on. I am also the author of 25
patents and 35 academic papers, including a chapter on new therapies for
hepatitis C in Burger’s Medicinal Chemistry, Drug Discovery and
Development, 7th Edition (Wiley, 2010). As the cost of discovery and
(especially) development got higher and higher, companies began to
consolidate. In 2009, Pfizer bought my former employer (Wyeth) and in
2010 me and tens of thousands of others were laid off. Unless I wanted
to leave my family and friends behind, my career in medicinal chemistry
was over. However, since most of us do research in multiple disease
areas during our careers, we also become experts in the biology and
medicine of that field, as well as a variety of other ancillary fields,
such as toxicology. So with a broad base of expertise, I embarked on a
new career: doing science outreach for the American Council on Science
and Health, where we “separate health scares from health threats”, as
the Wall Street Journal put it. Now I use my expertise in both chemistry
and toxicology to debunk phony chemical scares, which typically arise
from environmental groups that benefit by promoting scares about science
and medicine - and I also educate people about what really goes on in
private sector science. Though the pharmaceutical industry has a bad
image, we were dedicated scientists who spent our days trying to find
cures or better therapies. We had nothing to do with those ads on
television! I loved doing science, and now I love to talk to the public
about it. My name is Josh Bloom, I am Senior Director of Chemical and
Pharmaceutical Sciences for the American Council on Science and Health,
and you can Ask Me Anything! I’ll be back at 1 pm EST (10 am PST, 6 pm
UTC) to answer your questions, ask me anything!