Pharma
Greed, Lies, and the Poisoning of America
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4.1 • 15 Ratings
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
Award-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author Gerald Posner reveals the heroes and villains of the trillion-dollar-a-year pharmaceutical industry and delivers “a withering and encyclopedic indictment of a drug industry that often seems to prioritize profits over patients (The New York Times Book Review).
Pharmaceutical breakthroughs such as antibiotics and vaccines rank among some of the greatest advancements in human history. Yet exorbitant prices for life-saving drugs, safety recalls affecting tens of millions of Americans, and soaring rates of addiction and overdose on prescription opioids have caused many to lose faith in drug companies. Now, Americans are demanding a national reckoning with a monolithic industry.
“Gerald’s dogged reporting, sets Pharma apart from all books on this subject” (The Washington Standard) as we are introduced to brilliant scientists, incorruptible government regulators, and brave whistleblowers facing off against company executives often blinded by greed. A business that profits from treating ills can create far deadlier problems than it cures. Addictive products are part of the industry’s DNA, from the days when corner drugstores sold morphine, heroin, and cocaine, to the past two decades of dangerously overprescribed opioids.
Pharma also uncovers the real story of the Sacklers, the family that became one of America’s wealthiest from the success of OxyContin, their blockbuster narcotic painkiller at the center of the opioid crisis. Relying on thousands of pages of government and corporate archives, dozens of hours of interviews with insiders, and previously classified FBI files, Posner exposes the secrets of the Sacklers’ rise to power—revelations that have long been buried under a byzantine web of interlocking companies with ever-changing names and hidden owners. The unexpected twists and turns of the Sackler family saga are told against the startling chronicle of a powerful industry that sits at the intersection of public health and profits. “Explosively, even addictively, readable” (Booklist, starred review), Pharma reveals how and why American drug companies have put earnings ahead of patients.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Big Pharma pulls down three-quarters of a trillion dollars each year, but the industry wasn’t always the global powerhouse it is today. Drawing on exhaustive research, investigative journalist Gerald Posner tunnels into the history of pill peddlers, from early snake oil salesmen to the rise of the companies behind the overprescribed opioid oxycodone. The central figure in Posner’s book is infamous adman, psychiatrist, and wheeler-dealer Arthur Sackler, who along with his powerful family helped build the modern medical industry that fed the 21st-century opioid crisis. But Pharma is far-reaching, chronicling incredible discoveries like penicillin and cancer treatments alongside the industry’s unbridled greed and shocking lack of oversight. Along the way, Posner also explores superbugs, rising health care prices, and how manipulative those “ask your doctor” commercials really are. Posner’s exposé offers a well-balanced and shocking look at the way pharmaceuticals made our modern world—and how they could possibly break it.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Journalist Posner (God's Bankers) chronicles the historical abuses of the American pharmaceutical industry in this sprawling jeremiad. Beginning in the mid-19th century, when the Mexican-American and Civil Wars caused "an unprecedented surge for antiseptics and painkillers," Posner explains how the addictive nature of opiate-based remedies and lack of government oversight benefitted pharmaceutical pioneers. The race to develop and manufacture penicillin during WWII and the granting of the first antibiotic patent in 1948 launched an era of "wonder drugs" that produced huge profits and drove changes in the way drugs were sold and marketed. Posner places Arthur Sackler, a psychiatrist and medical advertising executive, at the forefront of those developments, documenting his contributions to the groundbreaking rollout of Pfizer's Terramycin antibiotic in 1951; his purchase of drugmaker Purdue Frederick Company; and his tangles with the FBI (for alleged links to Soviet spies) and Congress (for deceptive advertising practices) in the 1960s. Under the leadership of Arthur's nephew, Richard Sackler, Purdue developed and aggressively promoted the painkiller OxyContin in the 1990s, and its rampant overprescription, high dosage recommendations, and easily bypassed "extended release shell" significantly contributed to the opioid crisis. Posner's research impresses, but the blizzard of details often proves more disorienting than enlightening. This door stopper yields damning revelations but would benefit from a sharper focus.
Customer Reviews
REQUIRED READING FOR MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS
The book should be required for medical students and all medical professionals!
I think this book, PHARMA, is perhaps one of the most important works I have ever read. It thrusts an unvarnished truth about the pharmaceutical industry that is often hidden from view of the public and medical professionals for the simple reason that what is in this book is not taught in medical schools and rarely featured on the news programs. I think it was important to start the story many years ago, because at the end of the book it really did become clear in my mind that the pharmaceutical industry began as heroin dealers and one could argue little has changed. The historical line might have zigged and zagged, but with the aid of the book its apparent what the motives have always been.
I have been following the pharmaceutical industry for many years. Specially with a focus on the information described in great detail in this book such as the circumstances surrounding the topics of opioids, barbiturates, benzodiazepines, amphetamines, vaccines, and drugs such as Vioxx. I consider this book to be the absolute magnum opus on the topic of the pharmaceutical industry.
Overall, I can’t thank the author enough for writing this book. This is a treasure for humanity and I suspect will be regarded as such as time goes on. I am confident in my assessment of the importance of this book especially when considering that we are a society heavily intertwined and connected to the pharmaceutical industry.
I have been raving about PHARMA to my friends every time I had a epiphany moment while reading, which was pretty much every few pages. I will remember the lesions I have learned in it for the rest of my life.
The book should be required for medical students or any medical professional!
Probably would make an amazing movie or news special one day.
I am giving this book my most highest recommendation for anyone who has ever taken or prescribed a medication. In other words, this book is required reading!
Pharma
The best page turner