Bad Pharma, Ben Goldacre
Bad Pharma, Ben Goldacre
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Bad Pharma
How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients

Author: Ben Goldacre

Narrator: Jonathan Cowley

Unabridged: 11 hr 54 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 02/05/2013

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

Medicine is broken. We like to imagine that it's based on evidence and the results of fair tests. In reality, those tests are often profoundly flawed. We like to imagine that doctors are familiar with the research literature surrounding a drug, when in reality much of the research is hidden from them by drug companies. We like to imagine that doctors are impartially educated, when in reality much of their education is funded by industry. We like to imagine that regulators let only effective drugs onto the market, when in reality they approve hopeless drugs, with data on side effects casually withheld from doctors and patients.

All these problems have been protected from public scrutiny because they're too complex to capture in a sound bite. But Dr. Ben Goldacre shows that the true scale of this murderous disaster fully reveals itself only when the details are untangled. He believes we should all be able to understand precisely how data manipulation works and how research misconduct on a global scale affects us. In his own words, "the tricks and distortions documented in these pages are beautiful, intricate, and fascinating in their details." With Goldacre's characteristic flair and a forensic attention to detail, Bad Pharma reveals a shockingly broken system and calls for something to be done. This is the pharmaceutical industry as it has never been seen before.

About Ben Goldacre

Ben Goldacre is a doctor and science writer who has written the "Bad Science" column in the Guardian since 2003. He lives in London.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Andy

I appreciate how Ben Goldacre is trying to open the eyes of the people to many of the issues relating to science reporting. I check his blog every now and then, but this is the first time I've read his books. As background, I'm a GP in NZ, British by birth and training, closer to the start of my car......more

Goodreads review by Kevin

The flesh-and-bones of Big Pharma’s R&D and marketing... The Good: --While there may be some unsettling notions of Big Pharma, such feelings can easily be diverted to anti-vax and other media sensationalism given the liberal black-hole in critical analysis of political economy. Unlike his previous boo......more