In 'Bad Pharma', Ben Goldacre exposes the murky world of the pharmaceutical industry, revealing how greed and manipulation undermine medical science. He tackles issues like biased clinical trials and the suppression of negative results, illustrating how these practices deceive both doctors and patients. Goldacre's compelling narrative challenges the integrity of the medicines we rely on, urging readers to question what they put into their bodies. With a combination of sharp wit and rigorous investigation, he calls for transparency and reform within the industry. Prepare to rethink everything you thought you knew about health, medicine, and the forces that shape them.
By Ben Goldacre
Published: 2013
"The drug industry is like a magician—its sleight of hand means we often fail to see the tricks being played on us, where what’s not shown is just as important as what is."
We like to imagine that medicine is based on evidence and the results of fair testing and clinical trials. In reality, those tests and trials are often profoundly flawed. We like to imagine that doctors who write prescriptions for everything from antidepressants to cancer drugs to heart medication are familiar with the research literature about 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 the pharmaceutical industry. We like to imagine that regulators have some code of ethics and let only effective drugs onto the market, when in reality they approve useless drugs, with data on side effects casually withheld from doctors and patients. All these problems have been shielded from public scrutiny because they're too complex to capture in a sound bite. But 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 in the medical industry affects us on a global scale. With Goldacre's characteristic flair and a forensic attention to detail, Bad Pharma reveals a shockingly broken system and calls for regulation. This is the pharmaceutical industry as it has never been seen before.
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“The drug industry is like a magician—its sleight of hand means we often fail to see the tricks being played on us, where what’s not shown is just as important as what is.”
Bad Pharma
By Ben Goldacre
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Ben Goldacre is an accomplished British author, academic, and journalist, renowned for his thought-provoking explorations of science, medicine, and pseudoscience. He is best known for his popular books, including 'Bad Science,' a critical examination of the misuse of science in public discourse, and 'Bad Pharma,' which critiques the pharmaceutical industry’s impact on healthcare and drug effectiveness. Goldacre's writing is characterized by its clarity, wit, and rigorous skepticism towards unsubstantiated claims, making complex subjects accessible to a wide audience. He is also a frequent contributor to various publications and a passionate advocate for evidence-based medicine.
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