Dangerous Doses: How Counterfeiters Are Contaminating America's Drug Supply [Hardcover]

Katherine Eban (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 9, 2005

In the tradition of the great investigative classics, Dangerous Doses exposes the dark side of America's pharmaceutical trade. Stolen, compromised, and counterfeit medicine increasingly makes its way into a poorly regulated distribution system-where it may reach unsuspecting patients who stake their lives on its effectiveness.

Katherine Eban's hard-hitting exploration of America's secret ring of drug counterfeiters takes us to Florida, where tireless investigators follow the trail of medicine stolen in a seemingly minor break-in as it funnels into a sprawling national network of drug polluters. Their pursuit stretches from a strip joint in South Miami to the halls of Congress as they battle entrenched political interests and uncover an increasing threat to America's health.

With the conscience of a crusading reporter, Eban has crafted a riveting narrative that shows how, when we most need protection, we may be most at risk.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Of the many well-documented horror stories associated with the U.S. Healthcare System, none are more shocking and hard to believe than that exposed by investigative reporter Katherine Eban in Dangerous Doses: How Counterfeiters are Contaminating America’s Drug Supply. By riding shotgun with a small group of investigators in South Florida who refer to themselves as "The Five Horsemen of the Apocalypse," Eban outlines in chilling detail a vast system of criminality underpinning the wholesale trade of prescription drugs throughout the country. The Horsemen are a committed and colorful cast of characters not even the best crime novelist could create, who are hopelessly underpaid, rarely sleep, receive little respect, and face bureaucratic obstacles at every turn as they fight to keep tainted drugs out of hospitals and off pharmacy shelves. Their chief target is Michael Carlow, a flamboyant ex-con turned pharmaceutical wholesaler who has amassed millions through the sale of both stolen and fake prescription drugs. The more evidence the Horsemen uncover about Carlow’s network of shell companies, phony labeling techniques, Medicare scams, and other tricks of the trade, the more deadly the picture becomes. By the end, you don’t only want to see Carlow and his associates behind bars, but the entire pharmaceutical industry put on trial. You also want to give a copy of Dangerous Doses to everyone you know, as it is not just a great page turner but an important book that demands the widest possible audience. --Patrick Jennings

From Publishers Weekly

It's hard to imagine that, with the U.S. government's oversight of the development and production of pharmaceuticals, the pills you get from your pharmacist may be counterfeit. But according to medical reporter Eban, those pills often pass through dozens of hands, exchanged in dark parking lots and the backrooms of strip clubs for thousands of dollars in cash, possibly resold and relabeled several times. It might contain a twentieth of the dosage written on the label, or nothing but tap water. Eban, formerly with the New York Times, follows a group of five investigators to reveal how pervasive a problem drug counterfeiting is in the U. S. Operation Stone Cold, as the South Florida investigation was called, comprised a hodgepodge of pharmacists and policemen who shared a fanatical devotion to stopping adulterated drugs from reaching the public, despite uninterested supervisors, understaffed regulatory agencies and state laws that made offenses almost impossible to prosecute. The book reads like a good novel, though the cast of villains is so dizzying and the timeline so complicated that the action is sometimes hard to follow. Unfortunately there is no happy ending—the fight to protect the domestic drug supply continues. If this book receives wide attention, it could deal another blow to an already reeling pharmaceutical industry and users of prescription drugs will be wary after reading it. (May)
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; First Edition edition (May 9, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0151010501
• ISBN-13: 978-0151010509
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,045,121 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Required reading., September 8, 2005

By 

Robert P. Beveridge "xterminal" (Lakewood, OH) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dangerous Doses: How Counterfeiters Are Contaminating America's Drug Supply (Hardcover)

Katherine Eban, Dangerous Doses: How Counterfeiters Are Contaminating America's Drug Supply (Harcourt, 2005)

Have you ever taken a medication and felt no effect, or far less effect than you expected to have? Put it off to building up a tolerance? Yeah, me too. After reading this, however, I have to wonder.

The four-hundred-odd pages of Dangerous Doses fly by rather quickly for a piece of nonfiction; Eban takes you inside the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the South Florida interdepartmental task force aimed at bringing down those who would tamper with America's drug supply for personal gain. What I (and, I'm sure, many other readers) didn't expect, though, is just how much work the Horsemen had (and still have, in many cases, as of this writing) ahead of them. It would seem that counterfeit prescription medication is not a few isolated cases here and there we hear on the news, but a very, very big business that has reached its tendrils into most every state in the Union and affects untold billions of dollars' worth of merchandise. (The book's biggest shock, for me, came when one of the drugs mentioned is one I actually take.)

This is scary stuff. It's not just highly recommended because piece of nonfiction this readable are rare birds indeed, but because this is something you need to know about, especially if you or your family members take prescription drugs. Get it. Read it. ****

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pharmaceutical Drug diversion, August 12, 2005

By 

Gloria Petri (Florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dangerous Doses: How Counterfeiters Are Contaminating America's Drug Supply (Hardcover)

This book was riveting and exposed the underbelly of the world of pharmaceutical drugs and criminal that have thrived in it. The book details counterfeiting of life sustaining prescription drugs, Medicare and Medicaid fraud, diversion and mishandling of sensitive drugs, and how they end up in the normal distribution network to arrive on the shelves of the nations drug stores.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Groundbreaking, accurate, important medical journalism, April 30, 2005

By 

J. Kandel "cancerdoc" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dangerous Doses: How Counterfeiters Are Contaminating America's Drug Supply (Hardcover)

This book recounts in exacting detail the adulteration of the critical drugs needed by cancer and other critically ill patients, the result of a investigation by a group of dedicated Florida policemen and the author. This fact-driven, exhaustively researched, and beautifully written account is a compelling read, and one which (as an academic physician and cancer specialist) I found impeccable. It is an essential book for anyone for whom the integrity of our medications are important--which is everyone in this country.