The Truth About the Pharmaceutical Industry - How a $200 Billion Industry Has Deceived Us

Author: Marcia Angell
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-05-01
Features: The prices of drugs are constantly rising, drug advertisements are everywhere, and new drugs are constantly being introduced. What secrets lie behind these phenomena? Dr. Angell reveals the astonishing inner workings of the global pharmaceutical industry dominated by Western pharmaceutical giants in her book. She points out that this highly profitable industry is built on the fact that more and more patients cannot afford the drugs, and pharmaceutical companies are transforming from institutions with the mission of "researching and producing useful drugs" into profit-driven marketing machines. The book holds significance for China. – China Daily
How a $200 billion industry deceived us. A bestseller that stunned North America upon its release by Random House in the United States. Previously, pharmaceutical companies marketed drugs to treat diseases. Now, the opposite is true. They promote diseases to sell their drugs. The total profits of Cephalon, a Fortune 500 company (35.9 billion dollars), actually exceed the combined profits of the other 490 companies (33.7 billion dollars). The industry claims to be highly innovative, but in reality, only a small fraction of newly launched drugs are truly innovative; the majority are merely old drugs given new names. Pharmaceutical companies largely ignore tropical diseases—such as malaria, African trypanosomiasis, or schistosomiasis—because the countries where these diseases are prevalent are too poor to afford the drugs. The global sales of the top ten U.S. pharmaceutical companies on the Fortune 500 list amount to $271 billion, yet they spend only about 14% on research and development, while their profits are 17%. More astonishingly, they spend a staggering 31% of their sales on marketing and management. Pharmaceutical companies have a significant influence on doctors' views on medications and their prescriptions. Many prescription drug studies sponsored by companies are biased. Taking multiple medications for minor ailments, the side effects and interactions between drugs can cause suffering that may be worse than taking no medication at all. The rising prices of drugs, the overwhelming promotion of drug advertisements, and the constant introduction of new drugs—all these surface phenomena hide a truly shocking secret. Dr. Marcia Angell worked at The New England Journal of Medicine for over two decades and is well-positioned to comment on the increasingly corrupt state of the pharmaceutical industry. In this book, she boldly and sharply exposes the astonishing inner workings of the global pharmaceutical industry dominated by Western giants and proposes many fundamental reform proposals. She has witnessed how pharmaceutical companies have gradually transformed from institutions with the mission of "researching and producing useful drugs" into massive marketing machines, exerting a huge influence on medical research, education, and doctors' practices. Based on her research and case studies, the book provides an in-depth analysis of an industry that is almost out of control. It involves many familiar large Western pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Merck, Novartis, Roche, and AstraZeneca. Due to the veil of secrecy surrounding the pharmaceutical industry, the book caused an immediate sensation upon its publication in North America and climbed the bestseller lists of The New York Times and major bookstores. Many of the facts and perspectives in the book are also believed to be valuable references for Chinese readers.