Overview

The inside story of how Big Pharma's relentless pursuit of ever-higher profits corrupts medical knowledge--misleading doctors, misdirecting American health care, and harming our health. The United States spends an excess $1.5 trillion annually on health care compared to other wealthy countries--yet the amount of time that Americans live in good health ranks a lowly 68th in the world. At the heart of the problem is Big Pharma, which funds most clinical trials and therefore controls the research agenda, withholds the real data from those trials as corporate secrets, and shapes most of the information relied upon by health care professionals. In this no-holds-barred expose, Dr. John Abramson--one of the foremost experts on the drug industry's deceptive tactics--combines patient stories with what he learned during many years of serving as an expert in national drug litigation to reveal the tangled web of financial interests at the heart of the dysfunction in our health-care system. For example, one of pharma's best-kept secrets is that the peer reviewers charged with ensuring the accuracy and completeness of the clinical trial reports published in medical journals do not even have access to complete data and must rely on manufacturer-influenced summaries. Likewise for the experts who write the clinical practice guidelines that define our standards of care. The result of years of research and privileged access to the inner workings of the U.S. medical-industrial complex, Sickening shines a light on the dark underbelly of American health care--and presents a path toward genuine reform.

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Reviews

The Purdue Pharmaceutical company and its owners, the Sackler Family, have paid out billions of dollars in legal settlements, after deploying sales personnel to mislead physicians into believing that Oxycontin was not an addictive opioid. As John Abramson brilliantly shows in Sickening, the Purdue gang was simply following a script used by drug companies generally, hyping medicines and deceiving physicians about every aspect of their safety and efficacy. It's a medical horror show. --Laurie Garrett, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and New York Times best-selling author of The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance and Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health Dr. Abramson's book is a scholarly tour de force that should be read by all prescribers, researchers, publishers of that research, and users of pharmaceutical drugs. --Catherine DeAngelis, Editor in Chief Emerita, Journal of the American Medical Association Sickening is a must-read for all health professionals and anybody impacted by prescription drugs--that is, all of us. The book rigorously and convincingly documents that Big Pharma is largely responsible for the horrendously expensive yet inferior health care in the United States. To improve Americans' health, a large proportion of the US population must read the book and incrementally reverse this travesty. When that happens, it will improve the health of the rest of the world as well. --James M. Wright, MD, PhD, Emeritus Professor, University of British Columbia For nearly 20 years, Dr. Abramson's lectures have been a staple of the Harvard Medical School's annual Herbert Benson, MD CME Course in Mind Body Medicine. His perceptive and compassionate analysis of the U.S. health care system's failings--and possible remedies--consistently receives a standing ovation. With this important book, the general public will be able to share in his insights and help to advance our common mission of making health care work for everyone. --Peg Baim, MS, NP, Course Co-Director, annual Herbert Benson, MD CME Course in Mind Body Medicine at Harvard Medical School Over many years of working with John Abramson in pharmaceutical and device litigation, I witnessed his unique blend of compassion for patients, deep medical knowledge, and unyielding intellectual integrity. He provided invaluable expertise on how manufacturers distort medical science, and he exposed the tactics used by manufacturers to mislead both doctors and the public. Now he brings those skills to this masterful and profound book, which exposes the routine dishonesty at the heart of the American health care crisis. --Clinton Fisher, JD, Simmons Hanly Conroy (retired)--No Source

Author Information

Dr. JOHN ABRAMSON has been on the faculty of Harvard Medical School for twenty years and is a lecturer in the department of health care policy. A former family doctor, he is the author of the acclaimed book Overdosed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine and has made more than seventy-five appearances on national television shows, including the Today (twice), CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, CNN Morning America, CNN Headline News, Megyn Kelly Fox News, and the Dr. Oz Show. He has also appeared several times on NPR, including All Things Considered and On Point. He has written op-ed pieces in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and other major outlets, and his writing has also appeared in The Lancet, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and other prestigious medical publications. He lives in the Boston area. Kevin Stillwell is an actor, voice talent, and Earphones Award-winning audiobook narrator. His film and television credits include Looper and Drop Dead Diva.

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