Would Walter White Still Cook Meth in 2025?

Or: How Modern Oncology and Employer Insurance Would Have Ruined the Entire Premise

Dec 1 • Alex Kesin

136

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27

November 2025

The three-thousand-year journey of colchicine

For centuries it was a poison. Then colchicine rewrote treatment for gout, heart disease, and later, the debate over drug exclusivity.

Published on The Works in Progress Newsletter • Nov 20

October 2025

Fun with FGF21

...Did everyone just panic-buy an FGF21?

Oct 14

22

6

5

September 2025

How Amgen Lost The PCSK9 Patent War

In 2014, Amgen sued Sanofi and Regeneron to claim ownership of an entire class of cholesterol drugs. Nine years later, the Supreme Court ruled against…

Sep 25 • Alex Kesin

17

2

3

August 2025

The Cowboy Of Generic Drugs

A review of Yossi Goldstein's "Eli Hurvitz and the Creation of Teva Pharmaceuticals"

Aug 22 • Alex Kesin

19

2

3

The Day Novartis Chose Discovery

How a Swiss pharma giant built the last great corporate research skunkworks - and why that model may never work again.

Aug 5 • Alex Kesin

70

3

9

July 2025

July in Israel

The Iran thing canceled my June trip, which was fine because I’d been drilling Hebrew conjugations since January anyway, rolling those impossible…

Jul 25 • Alex Kesin

4

June 2025

Against "Against Life Extension"

A response to Francis Fukuyama's case against longevity research

Jun 4 • Alex Kesin

20

4

Biotech Life in the Software City

What it's like living as someone working in biotech in San Francisco.

Jun 2 • Alex Kesin

27

2

4

May 2025

Still Here, Still Jewish

May 22 • Alex Kesin

2

Mr. Secretary, Reclassify the Statin

One regulatory stroke could save more American lives than a decade of health campaigns. You have the pen.

May 15 • Alex Kesin

42

11

6

April 2025

Charles River Is In Trouble

Their moat is made of dead animals - but now the rats are leaving. Can Charles River take the hit?

Apr 16 • Alex Kesin

5