Overview

Over the past several decades, a gradual reduction in state funding has pressured patient groups into forming private-sector partnerships, raising an important ethical question: do these alliances ultimately lead to policies that are counter to the public interest? Health activist, scholar, and cancer survivor Sharon Batt examines the issue by investigating Canada’s breast cancer movement from 1990 to 2010. Health Advocacy, Inc. dissects the relationship between the companies that sell pharmaceuticals and the individuals who use them, drawing links between neoliberalism and corporate financing and the ensuing threat to the public health care system. Combining archival analysis, interviews with advocacy and industry representatives, and personal observation, Batt argues that the resulting power imbalance continues to challenge the groups’ ability to put patients’ interests ahead of those of the funders. A movement that once encouraged democratic participation in the development of health policy now eerily echoes the demands of the pharmaceutical industry. Batt’s thorough account of this shift defines the stakes of activism in public health today.

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Reviews

[Batt's] scholarly style might be a challenge for the casual reader, but those who persevere are rewarded with coverage of both sides of the debate ... Batt's goal is to start a conversation and encourage discussion. She readily achieves this effect, and any cancer charity currently facing a funding dilemma would be well served by her book. -- Isabel Lokody * Lancet Oncology * Sharon Batt's study of the relationship between breast cancer advocacy groups and the pharmaceutical industry in Canada is exhaustively researched, formidably detailed, analytically nuanced, riveting, and all too familiar ... most importantly for many readers, although focused on Canada, Batt's analysis of the changes in governmental priorities, drug costs, and patients' expectations clearly has applicability all around the globe ... Batt's book is not an easy read, but it should be devoured by anyone, from any nation, who wants to put together a similarly formidable argument for transparent and genuine discussion about what we should - indeed, must - do differently to prevent and treat human suffering and disease. -- Nancy MP King, Wake Forest University * Indian Journal of Medical Ethics Online * Drug access campaigns have wide emotional appeal - who wouldn't rally to the aid of someone with incurable cancer? They also reflect a genuine desire by patients with life-threatening diagnoses for a magic bullet. But fewer than 1-in-10 new drugs provide therapeutic advantage over existing drugs. The main beneficiaries of drug access campaigns are pharmaceutical companies, which almost always sponsor them, although this support is seldom obvious. -- Sharon Batt, Op-Ed * <em>The Star</em> * Batt's revelations about the relationship between patient advocacy groups and the pharmaceutical industry are vital and disturbing. -- Lisa Cumming * Maisonneuve * Batt has written a compassionate account of the debates among breast cancer activists in Canada and internationally about whether to accept money from the pharmaceutical industry ... [She] challenges consumer advocacy groups to use their key asset - the trust of patients and the wider public - to advance the interests of the people they represent. She calls on governments to create a funding source so that patient and consumer advocacy groups can reclaim their independence. Now more than ever we need advocates who put drug safety, effectiveness and affordability above the interests of pharma. -- Colleen Fuller, cofounder of Pharma Watch Canada * Alberta Views *

Author Information

Sharon Batt is an independent scholar and adjunct professor in the Department of Bioethics at Dalhousie University and a research affiliate of the university’s Technoscience and Regulation Research Unit. A survivor of breast cancer, she cofounded Breast Cancer Action Québec in 1991. Batt was a founding editor of Canada’s first feminist magazine, the Edmonton-based Branching Out, and for six years was an editor for the Quebec consumer magazine Protect Yourself. Her documentary on cancer for CBC Radio’s Ideas won the Major Armstrong award; her book, Patient No More: The Politics of Breast Cancer, won the Laura Jamieson Award for feminist nonfiction.

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