Customer Reviews

Side Effects: A Prosecutor, a Whistleblower, and a Bestselling Antidepressant on Trial

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Alison Bass brings all the players to life, both the good and the bad, in this well documented story behind the NY Attorney General's legal action against GSK. This book is in the tradition of Erin Brokavich or A Civil Action; it reads like a novel, like a thriller in fact, only it's true. No one could make this stuff up. I could not put it down. Bass deserves a lot of credit for her courage in writing this. Not only does she expose the underbelly of academic research at prestigious Ivy League schools, but also uncovers the sordid manipulation of patient advocacy groups like NAMI by pharmaceutical interests. Nothing is sacred. She goes after it all and it's a story that needs to be told in full just as it is here. I hope it will be widely read. It is a useful and exciting addition to the many books coming out about the corruption in the pharmaceutical industry, academic research, and the regulatory authorities, bringing it down to a very human level.

It's horrifying to read about our dependence on drugs. I was shocked with the first story: A teenager feels uncomfortable in social situations. She sees an ad on television promising a drug to turn teens from wallflowers to social butterflies. She asks her doctor for the drug. No problem, he says. He's not a psychiatrist, but he is an MD.

Aside from concerns about effects of these drugs on children and young people, why doesn't someone ask why doctors encourage patients to seek solutions in a bottle? How is depression diagnosed (or over-diagnosed)?

Then we have a story of a psychiatrist at Brown University who appears to be billing the government for research he's not conducting. He's also adjusting research reports to discount side effects.

He's still around, still holding a prestigious position at Brown University, still receiving research grants.

Author Bass also quotes a disturbing statistic: doctors who accept money from pharmaceutical companies (for research, consulting or testifying) tend to prescribe a lot more medication than those who don't.

The fiery, likeable prosecutor battles her own vision problems as well as the pharmaceutical industry. It's frustrating to read about the legal minutiae she has to address while people are dying from these drugs. The judge's name sounds familiar: I believe she was also the judge in the Martha Stewart case.

At the end of the book, we learn that the troubled teen lost her pill-induced "suicidal ideation" after discontinuing Ambien and Paxil. She has learned to accept her personality and she's found the perfect job as a veterinary technician.

That's the good news. But as Bass reports, FDA reports still depend on doctors who accept money from drug companies, but claim they remain unbiased. Maybe they could work on a drug to cure their deep denial.

Side Effects reads like a novel, even though it is a factual, non-fiction book. It is a well-written, outstanding story that depicts how several pharmaceutical firms along with the FDA intentionally did not disclose the negative, suicidal side affects of anti-depressant drugs such as Paxil, Prozac and Zoloft. Alison Bass weaves this story through a few victims and researchers who were trying to get out the truth and stand up against some very powerful, manipulative and well-financed pharmaceutical companies who make billions of dollars from these drugs. A must read!

This account of shady goings on in the U.S. drug-industrial complex is an eye-opener. Even though the subject matter might seem a bit sterile -- clinical trials, the FDA, the pharmaceutical industry, and university researchers -- Side Effects is a delightful page-turner. The reader is drawn into the lives of the characters and the details of their compelling stories as if one were reading a novel or detective story. Side Effects is a must read in our pill-popping culture.

In this gripping expose, Alison Bass manages to turn the inner workings of medical research, clinical trials and the legal system into a literary page-turner. Through tireless reporting, she brings to life several characters who made a huge impact in one small corner of the pharmaceutical industry, while also laying bare a medical system that continues to put Americans at risk. This is an important book that deserves much attention.

This is a carefully written book that illustrates an example of a larger issue with the FDA and the prescription drug industry written autobiographically by a journalist. I think it's a great book, but I would suggest this is not the first book you read on the subject, because this is a book about a specific example. An example of a good first choice would be Marcia Angell's Truth about Drug Companies. Then, read this one.

This is a fairly new book and very well written, I can only hope that this book gets into the hands of many interested parties and many more that should be aware of what is happening all around us. This book is based on facts of true stories and shows how the doctors, the pharmaceutical giants and the FDA have all been manipulating us for a very long time. Alison Bass has done an amazing job of bringing these stories together and putting it out there for millions to see.

I have always been a big fan of former Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and this book shines a light on him showing some of the progress that he has made. He successfully cracked his way into many large corporations to expose the wrongful things they do. These corporations felt they were too big and too powerful to be held responsible for their actions. He cut them off at the knees and brought them down to size. He made sure these guys played by the rules and its a shame he is no longer in charge.

There are stories in this book that will send chills up your spine like a horror movie, only then to be snapped back to reality realizing these are true stories that really happened. This book has cemented the original reasons why I have been determined to find the truths about antidepressants and those that manufacture them and push them on the people that should not be on them in the first place. This book is an eye-opener for anyone who believes that, for the most part, your doctors, Big Pharma and the FDA are here to protect you. They will force pills on you that are not safe, because you don't know any better. Educate yourself and read this book!

Alison Bass's book Side Effects makes for a great read. Bullying, distortion of the truth, coercion, and patient deaths from side effects of drugs. The story of distortion of study results related to SSRI antidepressants, and the corruption of leaders in the academic psychiatry field for the purposes of promoting profit for pharma. I found it painful to read sometimes, being as the story was close to home, so to speak.

Doug Bremner MD, author of:

The Goose That Laid The Golden Egg

"SIDE EFFECTS" should be read by anyone who takes prescription medications, it seems we are a population of pill pushers. A pill cures all "HA". Think before you put a pill in your mouth, when you take it and how you take it. Some pills "DO NOT MIX"

A great story. Well documented account of the terrible abuses of psychoactive drugs in kids.