[ekianjo]

You don't need to "reverse engineer" anything. The large majority of the drugs of the market are in the category of small molecules and they are well known and described everywhere. Any organic chemist from any university can draft a synthesis path.

the only thing holding the system in place are the patents, not the knowledge.

[1971genocide]

As someone who did AP chemistry and then went straight into programming. How would I go about learning more of this knowledge ?

[ekianjo]

Go back to get a Master's in Organic Chemistry like everyone else :) You can find books and online resources, but for actual hands-on practice you need to have labs at hand. (Disclosure: I'm an Organic Chemist).