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The Lead Compound
The on-ramp to drug discovery that doesn't exist anywhere else — a full course on how a molecule becomes a medicine, target to market, written so a curious newcomer and a working scientist can read the same page. Start from zero; finish able to read a trial result, a pipeline, or a biotech pitch like someone on the inside. This page is the map; the articles live on Substack.
New here? Read “Start Here” for how the course is built and how to read it — then begin with the free spine.
Pick a path
The spine reads linearly; the other paths thread the curriculum for what you need. Tap a path to filter the map; every article names what it rests on.
Spine 13
The free backbone — the whole path from the decision to fund a program to the patient who receives the drug. Start here.
- SP-00Before the Pipelinefree
- SP-01The Disease Tells You What to Do (If You're Listening)free
- SP-02Finding the Knotfree
- SP-03Is This Knot Real?free
- SP-04Finding Something That Sticksfree
- SP-05Molecular Fine-Tuningfree
- SP-06The Last Place You Can Still Be Wrong Cheaplyfree
- SP-07The Application That Lets You Use the Word 'Patient'free
- SP-08The First Humansfree
- SP-09Searching for the Signalfree
- SP-10The Betfree
- SP-11The Document That Becomes a Medicinefree
- SP-12After the Labfree
Foundations 19
The working vocabulary the rest of the course leans on — cells, trials, the FDA, the economics.
- F-01The Cell, Brieflypaid
- F-02DNA, RNA, and Proteins (Without the High School PowerPoint)paid
- F-03Genes Aren't Blueprints, They're Recipespaid
- F-04Organic Chemistry for People Who Don't Want To Take Organic Chemistrypaid
- F-05PK/PD: The Two Curves That Run Drug Discoverypaid
- F-06The Immune System, Drawn From Memorypaid
- F-07Biostatistics for Clinical Trials (Without P-Hacking)paid
- F-08How a Clinical Trial Is Builtpaid
- F-09How to Read a Clinical Trial Paperpaid
- F-10How to Read a Regulatory Documentpaid
- F-11How the FDA Actually Works (The People, the Divisions, the Meetings)paid
- F-12Drug Development Economics, Honestlypaid
- F-13Numerical Fluency for Biotechpaid
- F-14Who Owns a Molecule?paid
- F-15Receptor Occupancy and Why It's the Most Useful Bad Idea in Pharmacologypaid
- F-16Therapeutic Areas, Brieflypaid
- F-17Manufacturing Vocabulary: cGMP, COGS, Lot Releasepaid
- F-18Reimbursement, Brieflypaid
- F-19Placebo Ethics in Terminal Diseasepaid
Drug Stories 11
Deep, multi-part case studies of drugs you have heard of. Each arc follows one real drug through the pipeline.
Ozempic — GLP-1 / peptide
- CS-OZEMPIC-01The Gila Monster's Gift: Exenatide and the Birth of GLP-1 Therapeuticspaid
- CS-OZEMPIC-02Half-Life Engineering: The Fatty Acid That Made Once-Weekly Possiblepaid
- CS-OZEMPIC-03SUSTAIN-6 and the Cardiovascular Halopaid
- CS-OZEMPIC-04Three Brand Names, One Molecule: Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsuspaid
- CS-OZEMPIC-05When Demand Outruns the Plant: GLP-1 Shortages and Compoundingpaid
Keytruda — checkpoint antibody
- CS-KEYTRUDA-01The Brake on the Brake: How PD-1 Was Misunderstood for a Decadepaid
- CS-KEYTRUDA-02The Project Merck Almost Out-Licensedpaid
- CS-KEYTRUDA-03KEYNOTE-001: The Phase 1 That Became Five Phase 1spaid
- CS-KEYTRUDA-04Companion Diagnostics: Why PD-L1 IHC Co-Evolved With the Drugpaid
- CS-KEYTRUDA-05Tissue-Agnostic Approval: MSI-High and the Future of Labelspaid
- CS-KEYTRUDA-06The $31.7B Drug: What Keytruda's Lifecycle Tells Us About Pharma Economicspaid
Modality Library 4
How each kind of drug actually works. Reference-grade; releases alongside the drug stories that use it.
Crosscutting 5
The angles — target ID for engineers, reading a patent, the honest glossary.
- X-01What Target ID Looks Like to a Software Engineer vs. a Biologistpaid
- X-06Reading a Pharma Earnings Call as a Scientistpaid
- X-07The Diligence Memo: What a Biotech Investor Actually Readspaid
- X-08Cost of Capital, Phase Probabilities, and Why Biotech NPVs Look Like Thatpaid
- X-14The Honest Glossary: 50 Terms Biotech Uses Wrongpaid
This map shows what has published so far and grows as new articles go live on Substack. New case studies and modality deep-dives keep arriving — there isn't a last page.