Hard Drugs is a show by Saloni Dattani and Jacob Trefethen about medical innovation: how to speed it up, how to scale it up, and how to make sure lifesaving tools reach the people who need them the most. It is brought to you by Works in Progress.
Hard Drugs
Claim This Podcastby Saloni Dattani & Jacob Trefethen
4.8(12 reviews)
11 episodes
Updated Daily
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37
Podcast Authority
BetaPoorBased on show quality, social media presence, reviews, charts, and more
Quality41
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Engagement81
Podcast Overview
Hard Drugs is a show by Saloni Dattani and Jacob Trefethen about medical innovation: how to speed it up, how to scale it up, and how to make sure lifesaving tools reach the people who need them the most. It is brought to you by Works in Progress.
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
6/9/2025
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37
Podcast Authority
BetaPoorBased on show quality, social media presence, reviews, charts, and more
Quality41
Social0
YouTube0
Engagement81
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Recent Episodes
May 27, 2026
Inventing the second malaria vaccine with Katharine Collins
<p>Malaria is caused not by a virus or bacterium, but by a complex, shape-shifting parasite that has evolved alongside us for millennia. This has made vaccine development a brutal challenge.</p><p>In this episode, Jacob and Saloni are joined by Katharine Collins, who co-invented the second malaria vaccine, called R21, during her PhD. They discuss the gruelling process of reverse-engineering a vaccine and eureka moments along the way. They ask whether the biggest barriers to new vaccines are scientific or financial, and what it will take to finally eradicate one of natureʼs most vicious killers.</p><p>Hard Drugs is a podcast from Works in Progress about medical innovation presented by Saloni Dattani and Jacob Trefethen.</p><p>You can watch or listen on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.</p><p>Saloni’s substack newsletter: <a href="https://www.scientificdiscovery.dev/">https://www.scientificdiscovery.dev/<br></a><br></p><p>Jacob’s blog: <a href="https://blog.jacobtrefethen.com/">https://blog.jacobtrefethen.com/</a> </p><p>Acknowledgements:</p><ul><li>Aria Babu, editor at Works in Progress</li><li>Graham Bessellieu, video editor</li><li>Alice Edwards, captions</li><li>Abhishaike Mahajan, cover art</li><li>Atalanta Arden-Miller, art direction</li><li>David Hackett, composer<p></p></li></ul><p>Works in Progress & Coefficient Giving </p><p>Thesis</p><ul><li>Katharine Collins (2014). R21, a novel particle based vaccine for a multi-component approach to malaria vaccination.<p></p></li></ul><p>Books</p><ul><li>R. Killick-Kendrick (2012). Rodent Malaria.</li><li>Michael Kremer and Rachel Glennerster (2004). Strong Medicine: Creating Incentives for Pharmaceutical Research on Neglected Diseases.<p></p></li></ul><p>Articles and reports</p><ul><li>Saloni Dattani (2023). Why we didn’t get a malaria vaccine sooner. <a href="https://worksinprogress.co/issue/why-we-didnt-get-a-malaria-vaccine-sooner/">https://worksinprogress.co/issue/why-we-didnt-get-a-malaria-vaccine-sooner/</a> </li><li>Jerome P Vanderberg (2010). Reflections on Early Malaria Vaccine Studies, the First Successful Human Malaria Vaccination, and Beyond <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2637529/">https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2637529/</a></li><li>Pratik Pawar (2022). It Took 35 years to Get a Malaria Vaccine. Why? <a href="https://undark.org/2022/05/25/it-took-35-years-to-get-a-malaria-vaccine-why/">https://undark.org/2022/05/25/it-took-35-years-to-get-a-malaria-vaccine-why/</a> </li><li>Ernst R. Berndt, Rachel Glennerster, Michael R. Kremer, Jean Lee, Ruth Levine, Georg Weizsacker & Heidi Williams (2005) Advanced Purchase Commitments for a Malaria Vaccine: Estimating Costs and Effectiveness. <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w11288">https://www.nber.org/papers/w11288</a> </li><li>Ryan Duncombe, Karam Elabd and Justin Sandefur (2024). Avoiding Another Lost Decade on Malaria Vaccines <a href="https://www.cgdev.org/publication/avoiding-another-lost-decade-malaria-vaccines">https://www.cgdev.org/publication/avoiding-another-lost-decade-malaria-vaccines</a> <p></p></li></ul>
February 27, 2026
Should everyone be taking statins?
<p>Heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, but it’s also one of medicine’s biggest success stories. Since the 1950s, the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease has fallen dramatically, thanks to public health efforts, emergency care, medical innovation, and surgeries.</p><p>In this episode, Jacob and Saloni explore the cholesterol revolution: from statins discovered in fungi to new drugs that cut LDL cholesterol by 60% and last for months, driven by breakthroughs in genetics, monoclonal antibodies, RNA therapies, and modern medicinal chemistry. They talk about how cholesterol travels through the bloodstream, how it causes atherosclerosis and heart disease, and why it took nearly a century for scientists to form the consensus that lowering cholesterol saves lives.</p><p>Hard Drugs is a podcast from Works in Progress and Coefficient Giving about medical innovation presented by Saloni Dattani and Jacob Trefethen.</p><p>You can watch or listen on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.</p><p>Chapters: <br>0:00:00 Introduction<br>13:35 The decline in heart disease mortality<br>31:02 Surprising facts about cholesterol<br>55:40 The lipid hypothesis: 7 lines of evidence for the harms of LDL cholesterol<br>1:22:15 How cholesterol works<br>1:30:40 The discovery of statins<br>1:48:44 Should everyone be on statins?<br>1:57:10 PCSK9 drugs and beyond<br>2:22:56 Summary </p><p>Saloni’s substack newsletter: <a href="https://www.scientificdiscovery.dev/">https://www.scientificdiscovery.dev/<br></a><br></p><p>Jacob’s blog: <a href="https://blog.jacobtrefethen.com/">https://blog.jacobtrefethen.com/</a> </p><p>Acknowledgements:</p><ul><li>Aria Babu, editor at Works in Progress</li><li>Graham Bessellieu, video editor</li><li>Abhishaike Mahajan, cover art</li><li>Atalanta Arden-Miller, art direction</li><li>David Hackett, composer<p></p></li></ul><p>Works in Progress & Coefficient Giving</p><p><br></p><p>Books</p><ul><li>Daniel Steinberg (2007) The Cholesterol Wars.</li><li>Jie Jack Li (2009) Triumph of the Heart: The Story of Statins.<p></p></li></ul><p>Blog posts</p><ul><li>James Stein (2025) Lipid and lipoprotein basics series. <a href="https://jamesstein18.substack.com/p/part-i-lipid-and-lipoprotein-basics">https://jamesstein18.substack.com/p/part-i-lipid-and-lipoprotein-basics</a> <p></p></li></ul><p>Articles</p><ul><li>Akira Endo (2017) Discovery and Development of Statins <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1934578X1701200801">https://doi.org/10.1177/1934578X1701200801</a> </li><li>Joseph L Goldstein, Michael S Brown (2010) History of discovery: The LDL receptor. <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2740366/">https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2740366/</a> </li><li>Patty W. Siri-Tarino and Ronald M. Krauss (2016) The early years of lipoprotein research: from discovery to clinical application <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27474223/">https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27474223/</a> </li><li>Eun Ji Kim and Anthony S. Wierzbicki (2020) The history of proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin-9 inhibitors and their role in the treatment of cardiovascular disease <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32537117/">https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32537117/</a> </li><li>Patrick W. Siri-Tarino et al. (2010) Saturated fat, carbohydrate, and cardiovascular disease.<a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.94.9.4312?utm_source=chatgpt.com"> </a><a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.94.9.4312">https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.94.9.4312</a></li><li>Saloni Dattani (2025) Death rates from cardiovascular disease have fallen dramatically — what were the breakthroughs behind this?<a href="https://ourworldindata.org/cardiovascular-deaths-decline?utm_source=chatgpt.com"> https://ourworldindata.org/cardiovascular-deaths-decline</a></li><li>Cholesterol Treatment Trialists’ (CTT) Collaboration (2010) Efficacy and safety of more intensive lowering of LDL cholesterol: a meta-analysis of data from 170,000 participants in 26 randomised trials.<a href="https://www.thelancet.com/article/S0140-6736%2810%2961350-5/fulltext?utm_source=chatgpt.com"> </a>https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61350-5</li><li>E. J. Mills et al. (2011) Efficacy and safety of statin treatment for cardiovascular disease: a network meta-analysis of 170,255 patients from 76 randomized trials.<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20934984/?utm_source=chatgpt.com"> https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20934984/</a></li><li>Julia Brandts and Kausik K. Ray (2023) Novel and future lipid-modulating therapies for the prevention of cardiovascular disease. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41569-023-00860-8">https://www.nature.com/articles/s41569-023-00860-8</a> <p></p></li></ul><p>Videos</p><ul><li>Ninja Nerd (2018) Lipoprotein metabolism <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQY0xpwqPfQ">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQY0xpwqPfQ</a> <p></p></li></ul>
December 22, 2025
The first cancer vaccine
<p>Hepatitis B is a tiny virus that causes hundreds of thousands of deaths from liver disease and cancer each year. The vaccine against it became the first of many milestones: it was the first viral protein subunit vaccine, the first recombinant vaccine, and the first vaccine to prevent a type of cancer. </p><p>In this episode, Jacob and Saloni follow the trail of strange jaundice outbreaks that scientists traced to a stealthy liver virus, how scientists turned one viral surface protein into a lifesaving shot for newborns, and how it was all built upon breakthroughs in immunology.</p><p>Hard Drugs is a new podcast from Works in Progress and Coefficient Giving about medical innovation presented by Saloni Dattani and Jacob Trefethen.</p><p><br></p><p>You can watch or listen on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.</p><p>Chapters:<br>0:00:00 Introducing the hepatitis B vaccine<br>0:15:46 The mysterious trail of jaundice outbreaks<br>0:28:03 How a tiny virus causes cirrhosis and liver cancer<br>0:53:19 Maurice Hilleman's purified hep B vaccine<br>1:17:36 Turning the hep B vaccine recombinant<br>1:29:14 The impact of hep B vaccination<br>1:39:27 The 19th century battle for immunology<br>2:01:34 How the body makes an almost infinite number of antibodies<br>2:30:57 How subunit vaccines took over<br>2:45:33 Conclusion</p><p>Saloni’s substack newsletter: <a href="https://www.scientificdiscovery.dev/">https://www.scientificdiscovery.dev/<br></a><br></p><p>Jacob’s blog: <a href="https://blog.jacobtrefethen.com/">https://blog.jacobtrefethen.com/</a> </p><p>Books:</p><ul><li>Paul Offit (2007) Vaccinated: One Man's Quest to Defeat the World's Deadliest Diseases</li><li>Arthur M Silverstein (2009) A history of immunology</li><li>Ronald W Ellis (1993) Hepatitis B Vaccines in Clinical Practice</li><li>Sally Smith Hughes (2011) Genentech: The beginnings of biotech</li></ul><p>Articles:</p><ul><li>Timothy M. Block et al. (2016) A historical perspective on the discovery and elucidation of the hepatitis B virus <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.antiviral.2016.04.012">https://doi.org/10.1016/j.antiviral.2016.04.012</a> </li><li>Naijuan Yao et al. (2022) Incidence of mother-to-child transmission of hepatitis B in relation to maternal peripartum antiviral prophylaxis: A systematic review and meta-analysis <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/aogs.14448">https://doi.org/10.1111/aogs.14448</a></li><li>Jill Koshiol et al. (2019) Beasley’s 1981 paper: The power of a well-designed cohort study to drive liver cancer research and prevention <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5866222/">https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5866222/</a> </li><li>William J. McAleer et al. (1984) Human hepatitis B vaccine from recombinant yeast <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/307178a0">https://doi.org/10.1038/307178a0</a> </li><li>Chunfeng Qu et al. (2014) Efficacy of Neonatal HBV Vaccination on Liver Cancer and Other Liver Diseases over 30-Year Follow-up of the Qidong Hepatitis B Intervention Study: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001774">https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001774</a> </li><li>Anthony R Rees (2020) Understanding the human antibody repertoire <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/19420862.2020.1729683">https://doi.org/10.1080/19420862.2020.1729683</a> </li></ul>
11 total episodes available
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