Peter Drake was born in St. Louis, Missouri. His father was the head of manufacturing for Beech Aircraft before he became one of the founders of McDonnell Aircraft. Drake attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, where he majored in biology and Russian. He then obtained his PhD from Bryn Mawr College, with his thesis in neuroplasticity. In 1980, Drake joined the Case Western Reserve Medical School and took a summer program on business for science PhDs at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. While pursuing his PhD, Drake was exposed to the biotech industry both through his mentor Lou Fernandez at Monsanto and by reading about the Chakrabarty patent in the New York Times. Drake began interviewing on Wall Street and eventually accepted a position at Kidder Peabody as an analyst. While he had a background in science, Drake had to learn the specific sciences of each biotech company he worked with, which included Genetech, Centocor, Cetus Corporation, Biogen, Genzyme, Amgen, and Immunex. Throughout his time at Kidder Peabody, Drake worked extensively with biotech CEOs and eventually made partner in 1986. One year later, Drake and his team at Kidder Peabody formed Vector Securities. At Vector, Drake worked as a biotech analyst and director of research, though he eventually switched to just analysis. In 1993, Drake, along with Arnold Snider and Theodore Beghorst, formed Deerfield Management, a health care investment firm. The company initially raised forty million dollars and closed to new investors in 1994 after reaching two hundred and fifty million dollars. Vector was later sold to Prudential, who allowed the Vector team to still maintain the firm just under a new name, Prudential Vector Health Care Group. Drake left Vector five years later in 2000.

This interview was conducted via telephone.