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On the Take: How Medicine's Complicity with Big Business Can Endanger Your Health 58048th Edition

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Jerome P. Kassirer (Author)
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Jerome P. Kassirer (Author)
4.4 out of 5 stars 21 customer reviews
ISBN-13: 978-0195300048
ISBN-10: 0195300041
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Oxford University Press; 58048th edition (October 20, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0195300041
  • ISBN-13: 978-0195300048
  • Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 0.8 x 6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,130,041 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsWe're not as objective as we think we are
By Martin G. Kistin on April 18, 2005
Format: Hardcover
Thirty years ago Dr. Kassirer was my chief when I was a medical house officer in Boston. (That will serve as my disclosure of possible conflict of interest although we have had little contact since that time.)

He has been a wildly successful nephorlogist/researcher, clinician and teacher. As editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, he constantly expressed concerns over possible conflict of interest and its influence on published medical literature.

This book is a highly researched and extensively documented look at conflicts of interest and potential conflicts of interest in the medical literature and other closely related areas of medicine. Sometimes there are situations where potential conflict of interest has little or no influence on our decision making. As amply documented in On the Take, there are other times when conflict of interest may impact our decision making to the detriment of our patients. This book examines when and how the harmless potential conflict of interest moves into the realm of a serious, even ethical, dilemma.

Amazingly, these conflicts may extend beyond the published medical literature to consensus papers and clinical guidelines increasingly embraced by the government and major medical societies and these conflicts of interest may even intrude into organizations designed to protect the consumer like the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and the CDC (Center for Disease Control).

We as physicians minimize the extent to which potential conflicts of interest influence us in our medical practice - a view not widely shared by patients or government regulatory committees.

Dr. Kassirer presents a number of suggestions to improve the situation. Some of these are already being implemented by major medical journals.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsessential reading
By Amazon Customer on January 25, 2005
Format: Hardcover
I rarely write reviews, but in this case feel obligated to point out what a tremendous service Dr. Kassirer has provided. As a physician, I have always been concerned about the influence of gifts and outright payments to doctors and researchers in promoting pharmaceuticals and other healthcare. However, I had no idea how extensive and pervasive it is. Dr. Kassirer has done an outstanding job in giving us a picture of the truth. This is a very well written book. I strongly recommend that all medical students and physicians read it, and suggest that everyone interested in healthcare do so.

As a minor point: Dr. Kassirer does not address the same influence which is present in alternative and complementary medicine--whose practitioners often benefit from the negative press of scientific (allopathic) medicine. In fact, it is just as bad or even worse in those types of care.

Finally, I must point out that I have never met Dr. Kassirer and have no financial inducement to write this :-)

Paul Gahlinger, MD, PhD
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5.0 out of 5 starsBig Pharma Out of Control
By Joel M. Kauffman on January 19, 2005
Format: Hardcover
Fact-dense, well referenced, yet balanced in tone and easy to read, this book is the best exposé I have ever read on the financial conflicts of the medical profession caused by the efforts of Big Pharma, which for this review will include device and test manufacturers as well as drug makers. From pens and pads to cruises and fake consulting arrangements, Big Pharma has caused financial conflicts in many physicians and others "on the take". Many of the consulting deals are to give talks, ostensibly based on good medical science, that promote a product. Much of this is shown to occur at Continuing Medical Education courses sponsored by Big Pharma in which gifts are freely dispensed, reprints of journal articles favorable to products are handed out, and financial ties of the "consultants" giving talks are minimized or concealed.

Academic researchers are tainted as well. By being encouraged by their universities to obtain grants with overhead from Big Pharma, they must do research that helps in product development. Agreements may delay, prevent or pollute the publication of results. When a product possibility from a government (usually NIH) grant is seen, federal legislation passed 20 years ago allows the researcher to patent discoveries, form a company, and do clinical trials on his own potential product. While this may have led to valuable results, the potential for bias at every step due to financial conflict is clearly laid out.

Journals fare little better, even the prominent JAMA, NEJM and Annals of Internal Medicine. Papers that may have been ghost-written by Big Pharma on clinical trials with selectively favorable results are published [see Joel M. Kauffman, Bias in Recent Papers on Diets and Drugs in Peer-Reviewed Medical Journals, J. Am.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsThe Corrupting Influence of Big Money on Physicians
By John H. Holbrook on January 25, 2005
Format: Hardcover
Dr. Jerome Kassirer is the former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine and a physician-educator with impeccable credentials. He has written an insightful and illuminating analysis of how big business money has harmed physicians and the patients they serve. This volume is a must read for physicians who have experienced some of the events described in the book and for patients whose interactions with their physicians may have been influenced in ways that they couldn't have appreciated.

Much of the book focuses on the activities of pharmaceutical
companies that spend more than $30,000 per year on each U.S. physician to promote and market products. Physicians have been exposed to a variety of marketing tactics over a period of years. The resulting changes in physician behavior, e.g. conflicts of interest, erode the core of trust that binds physicians and their patients together. These conflicts of interest also taint the information physicians rely on to treat their patients. Dr Kassirer also focuses on medical journals, professional organizations, research organizations and prestigious federal agencies that have been coopted by the insidious influence of big business money.

The book provides an analysis of how this problem has developed and makes specific suggestions on treatment. Although the writing is hard-hitting, it is balanced and fair. The problem is huge. This book may do just what Dr. Kassirer requests: initiate a sustained public outcry against inappropriate practices.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 starsDrugs

okay

Published 11 months ago by John M. Buob
5.0 out of 5 starsDefinitely worth reading

Way more evidence presented than I expected, recommended.

Published 14 months ago by *
5.0 out of 5 starsA "must read" for anyone taking prescription drugs

Must read for anyone whose doctor pushes prescription medicines on them. Much of the research is flawed and many of the drugs are not safe. Read more

Published 18 months ago by Mary
5.0 out of 5 starsWe've been fooled by the system.

Case for looking after ourselves.

Published 21 months ago by E. Marsh
5.0 out of 5 starsAn enormous contribution to America

Reading this book, you continue to say, "I knew it!" Things you felt in your stomach, but could not explain with your head. The author names names throughout the book. Read more

Published on September 15, 2011 by Bradley W. Hall, Ph.D.
4.0 out of 5 starsConsumers should read to better understand our health care system!

Easy to understand for the average person, perhaps a little slower than I'd like. Author precisely and fairly presents all sides of the many issues included. Excellent read!

Published on August 22, 2011 by jenn
5.0 out of 5 starsThe sad truth

The recent financial meltdown illustrates yet again how capitalism is vulnerable to exploitation and serious instability because of greed. Read more

Published on January 7, 2010 by Irfan A. Alvi
5.0 out of 5 starsOn the Take :How Medicine's Complicity with Big Business Can Endanger...

I work for a Pharmaceutical Company so have been aware for a long time of the relationships Big Pharma foster with business to sell their products. Read more

Published on December 23, 2009 by Patrick L. Franklin
5.0 out of 5 starsvery important book

Doctor Kassirer is not only a fine writer, but a brave one, as well! I can only imagine the grief he has taken for writing this important book. Read more

Published on October 30, 2009 by S. Busalacchi
1.0 out of 5 starsFired left wingers last swipe at his colleagues

Jerome Kassirer uses his narrow left wing view to smear the profession of medicine with a broad brush stemming from his narrow sequestered view in his Ivory tower. Read more

Published on July 24, 2008 by Stephen Bookbinder

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