Medicine has reached a turning point: treatments that once seemed like science fiction—living drugs, engineered viruses, genetically modified immune cells—are now real options for patients. In Taming Cancer, biochemist and immunologist Drew N. Kelner, Ph.D., pulls back the curtain on this revolution.
Written by a scientist who spent nearly four decades developing novel cancer medicines, this book is both an origin story and a field guide: it explains how cancer research has advanced over time, how immunotherapy and targeted medicines work, and why the future of cancer care looks dramatically different than it did even a decade ago.
Kelner’s voice is optimistic but grounded. He avoids sensationalism and instead offers clear explanations, historical perspective, and candid reflections from the bench and the clinic. For anyone who wants to move beyond headlines and understand the science—and the real human impact of cancer—Taming Cancer is an accessible, hopeful roadmap.
Quick Look
Title: Taming Cancer: 21st Century Biology and the Future of Cancer Medicine
Author: Drew N. Kelner, Ph.D.
Genre: Nonfiction / Popular Science / Medicine
Print length: ~355 pages
Publication date: May 28, 2024
Publisher: BioCentury Press
Buy: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / Apple Books
Tone: informative, optimistic, accessible to non-scientists
Awards & recognition: Winner of 7 book awards including Best Indie Book Award in Medicine; praised by Kirkus Reviews, Reedsy Discovery, and Publisher’s Weekly (Booklife)
Taming Cancer traces the arc of modern cancer medicine from early observations to today’s breakthrough therapies. Kelner starts with the fundamentals—how cells become cancerous, the discoveries of the early pioneers who first probed tumors, and the biochemical logic that underpins cancer growth. From there he moves into the contemporary renaissance of targeted therapies and immunotherapies: antibodies, antibody–drug conjugates, oncolytic viruses, checkpoint inhibitors, and genetically engineered cell therapies.
What makes this book special is its insider perspective. Kelner explains the science with metaphors and illustrations that make complex ideas approachable, while recounting episodes from his own career—most notably his role in bringing two first-in-class immunotherapies to patients. He places key discoveries in context (why some ideas were dismissed at first, why others succeeded), and he maps how incremental lab breakthroughs were transformed into medicines that can both extend and improve quality of life for people with metastatic cancers.
The final chapters look to the future: how combination therapies, gene editing, AI-driven discovery, and smarter clinical trial design could change the equation further—possibly turning many metastatic cancers into manageable chronic conditions, and even achieving tumor eradication in the most fortunate patients. Above all, the book is designed to inform patients, caregivers, students, and curious readers who want a clear, balanced view of how cancer medicine is changing.
Q&A with Drew N. Kelner, Ph.D.
Q: What is your book about and what inspired you to write this book?
A: I always wanted to write a popular science book and my experiences developing cancer medicines at Amgen was the major spark for the commitment to write the book. During my final few years at Amgen we developed two first-in-class immunotherapies that I felt compelled to document for the public.
Q: When did you start writing, and what made you decide to publish this book?
A: I began the research about ten years ago and started getting serious when I retired from Amgen in 2015. It was a long process to learn how to communicate such a complex topic in accessible language. That was the biggest challenge. Based on the reviews and recognitions I have received it appears I succeeded.
Q: Which character was the most fun—or most challenging—to write, and why?
A: This is nonfiction but there are real life characters. I enjoyed going back in time to “enter the minds” of pioneers such as Paul Ehrlich and Otto Warburg as I tried to view the scientific world from their perspectives long ago.
Q: What themes or messages do you hope readers take away from your book?
A: We have made tremendous progress in cancer treatment in this century and I hope people recognize that new options are evolving rapidly. I also hoped to convey the joy of scientific discovery and perhaps transfer some of my excitement about these new developments that are changing how cancer medicine is practiced.
Q: Were there any real-life experiences that influenced your story or characters?
A: As noted, my almost 40-year career in biotechnology developing medicines for cancer and other grievous illnesses, including arthritis, osteoporosis, and hemophilia, provided the impetus for writing the book.
Q: What question do you wish readers would ask you about the book?
A: There are so many questions that can be asked about the book’s content. Choosing one is difficult. How about, “If you had cancer, what would you do to treat it?”
Q: Do you have a favorite quote or moment from the book you’d like to share?
A: At his 1966 Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Peyton Rous, who discovered the first oncogenic (cancer-causing) virus early in the 20th century, described cancer in a profound and eloquent manner: “Every tumor is made up of cells that have been so singularly changed as no longer to obey the fundamental law whereby the cellular constituents of an organism exist in harmony and act together to maintain it.” This statement made six decades ago still holds up today.
Q: What was the biggest challenge in writing or publishing it?
A: The book took a long, long time to research, write, edit, re-edit, and format for publication. Sticking with it until the end was challenging but I was intent on doing so. The pandemic was oddly helpful in this effort as it provided time to focus and get the job done. A lot of the writing was done in that timeframe in a “mad dash” to the finish.
Q: What’s next for you as a writer?
A: I am doing some reading and considering a book on the nature of chronic inflammatory diseases, which are the major health issue in our society. Whether I have it in me to do another book like this one, given its complexity, is still an open question.
Featured Reviews
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ The science in this book is solid and entertaining
James Crowley
“This is a great book for general readers who want more than a superficial gloss over of the story of how we now have entered an era where cancer, “the Emperor of all maladies” may finally be cured. The science in this book is solid and entertaining to read, with excellent simple illustrations and anecdotes about the key scientific advances and those pioneers whose ideas often got a thumbs down from the establishment at first. I would also recommend it to college students especially science majors, pre-meds and engineering students. It’s right up to date with the latest promising cancer treatments currently being researched. A must read for all who appreciate a well researched and well written popular scientific book.””
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Excellent resource to gain an appreciation of this fascinating, complex subject
M. Birch
“Taming Cancer achieves a nearly impossible task: providing a non-biologist an understanding of the science and history that underlies our current knowledge of cancer and the cutting edge therapies that are striving to bring it under control. All of this while remaining remarkably entertaining, educational, and thought provoking! Having spent over 26 years working in biotech, much of it supporting cancer programs, this is the first time I feel I understand the biology behind these amazing therapies.”
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Fighting the good fight vs cancer
Brian Padrick
“Thank you Drew for paving a scientific path towards solving something that still causes so much fear and anxiety in many of us today. Today, it still feels like cancer is winning often, and your biologic look at the reality, which can and will be tamed, is so encouraging. We are grateful and thankful that you’ve created this work, and hope it’s wisdom spreads like wildfire into all the right communities, to continue fighting this good fight. Sincerely, Brian (a very thankful spouse of PCR wife who went thru aggressive breast cancer).”
About the Author
Drew N. Kelner, Ph.D., is a biochemist and immunologist with 38 years of experience developing biopharmaceutical drugs that target cancer at the molecular level. Dr. Kelner was born and raised on Long Island and left home to earn a B.S. in chemistry from Haverford College, a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Duke University, and a postdoctoral fellowship in immunology, also at Duke.
After retiring from the biotechnology company Amgen in 2015 he has been a biotechnology consultant, loving husband and father, and part-time guitar player. Taming Cancer is his way of paying forward for the privilege he had of working with the best and brightest scientists and engineers in developing cutting-edge therapies for the most feared and unpredictable of human ailments.
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