Free Downloads Patient Number One: A True Story Of How One CEO Took On Cancer And Big Business In The Fight Of His Life
How many victims of cancer have thought, "If only I could order up a cure"?Rick Murdock could.In an extraordinary book that proves that truth can be stranger than fiction, Rick Murdock tells the dramatic story of his fight against a deadly lymphoma that could only be treated with technology developed by his own biotech company, and the equally harrowing battle for the survival of his company in a bruising legal dispute with a multibillion-dollar medical products giant.Rick Murdock was forty-four years old when he was named CEO of CellPro, a thriving biotech company in Seattle that was reaping the benefits of the biotech boom in the late 1980s and early '90s. Wall Street money fueled the flame of cutting-edge research at start-up companies like CellPro, where dedicated scientists were researching treatments that showed great promise in the fight against cancer and other diseases. But then Rick found a lump in his neck, evidence of the acute mantle cell lymphoma raging through his system. This rare form of cancer had no cure: Without a miracle, Rick would die.At CellPro, Rick found his miracle workers. In a stunning twist of fate, Rick's staff was experimenting with a radical new treatment for advanced lymphomas, though the scientists were months, if not years, away from success. Knowing they were their boss's last hope, these researchers went to work on the experiment that could save Rick's life. If they were successful, Rick would become "patient number one," the guinea pig for a technology that had never been used on humans. The thrilling race against time to save Rick's life is only part of this remarkable story. For while Rick was fighting for his own life, he was also battling a medical products behemoth named Baxter Healthcare and archaic patent laws that threatened CellPro. If CellPro was put out of business, the promising therapies it had been developing for victims of breast cancer, leukemia, lymphoma, and other deadly cancers could disappear. Patient Number One shares the intriguing story of how entrepreneurs and scientists came together to form CellPro, painting a vivid picture of how researchers work tirelessly to come up with new and better treatments for disease, while their financiers play a high-stakes financial game to make money from these medical endeavors. However, in the tradition of books like A Civil Action, Patient Number One is also an illuminating, often scathing look at how medical research is conducted in America today as the bottom line can get in the way of saving lives. Lawyers, politicians, researchers, executives, and investors all want a piece of the biotech pie and will stop at nothing to preserve their special interests, even if it means keeping life-saving treatments from the people who need them.From tense courtroom scenes between the Goliath-like Baxter and tiny CellPro to anxious moments in the laboratory with Rick's staff and Rick's own agonizing cancer treatments, Patient Number One takes readers into the fascinating, frustrating world of medical research and how it directly affects us all.
Hardcover: 320 pages
Publisher: Crown; 1 edition (May 9, 2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0609603914
ISBN-13: 978-0609603918
Product Dimensions: 1.2 x 6.8 x 9.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #1,676,724 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #29 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Diseases & Physical Ailments > Cancer > Lymphatic #35 in Books > Medical Books > Pharmacology > Product Development #1262 in Books > Science & Math > Experiments, Instruments & Measurement > Methodology & Statistics
I have a Friend who just went through this process at John Hopkins. The results at this time are excellent and the procedures are almost exactly what the Author went through. I would recommend this book as a tool for all Patients that are diagnosed with this form of Cancer as a Ray of Hope for their peace of mind. The only downside is the exposing of how our Judicial System treats the Treatment of a serious illness as another point of Law. They should be ashamed and the Judge should be also for overturning a Jury verdict. They wonder why people have no respect for the Law and Jury Trials.
Overall, PATIENT NUMBER ONE is a compelling, dramatic true story that is fast-paced and socially relevant. Though story's most intense moments are played out over laboratory beakers and in the pages of patent infringement law-it's a fascinating read. The subject matter is on par with films like THE INSIDER, bringing to light some very ugly but very timely truths about big business and our legal system.The premise-- that a CEO whose life was saved by the very technology his company invented, must battle big business to save that same company- is a true David vs. Goliath story, but one with a bittersweet ending.The people in the story are very compelling, mostly because of the hardships they face and overcome, rather than because of their uniqueness or likability. For example, the protagonist Richard is a rather bland corporate executive, and one who was lucky enough to be in exactly the right place when cancer struck. I empathize with him only because of the complete unfair tactics that are waged against him, not because I necessarily identify with a CEO of a tech firm. The most interesting characters are the scientists at CellPro in charge of saving their boss' life. This task and its pressures are the most riveting aspects of the book, and make for a brilliant read.
Even the strong hearter should be ready for an emotional tug when reading this book. the incredible story of the CEO, Rick Murdock, shows that no one can escape cancer but we can defeat it. At first I thought this would be a book that was basically scientific and confusing but I as pleasantly surprised. It is a fast and wonderful read!
Few of us know what it was like to have a fatal illness and have survived. And even fewer would have been the CEO of the company that created the device that saved our life! Rick Murdock is one of these rare people, and his story, in the first person, is fascinating.Equally fascinating to those of us who want to live a long life and depend upon medical science to let us do that, is the author's frustrating journey in attempting to make the technology that saved his life available to others.An eye opening read!
A trully remarkable, and extremely ironic story that keeps the reader entranced, and at times outraged with our own legal system. A much more inticing story than that of "A Civil Action" or "The Insider", given the authors own fight for survival. Anyone will have a hard time putting it down!
This was a riveting story - - read it! You will be uplifted most of the time, and outraged by the final conclusion. Many heros emerge in the telling of this heart-pounding story - - from Murdock the patient to the scientists working in the laboratory to the clinicians offering new hope to cancer victims. Two noteworthy anti-heroes also emerge, U. S. District Court Judge Roderick McKelvie and plaintiffs' attorney Donald R. Ware of Foley, Hoag & Eliot, Boston, MA, whose use of arcane points of law ensured cancer victims would be denied potential life saving technology. These two should enter into a suicide pact to honor the patients who died as a result of their efforts. Interestingly, Mr. Ware's firm represented big business in the book "A Civil Action", another legal saga in which cancer victims were denied.
Fabulous book, even more compelling because I know the Patient.
Although the ghost writer of this tale did yeoman's work, I was overwhelmed on every page by what was between the lines: Rick Murdock would have died from this disease had he not been a rich and powerful CEO of a company that specialized in this treatment area. The average person, that is to say all patients who do not fall into the top 10 percent of wage earners in this country, are subjected to health care that has become increasingly rationed. Mr. Murdock ought to thank his lucky stars and donate the proceeds from his (the ghost writer's) book to hospice.
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