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The Truth About the Drug Companies: How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It Hardcover – August 24, 2004

by
Marcia Angell (Author)
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Marcia Angell (Author)
4.2 out of 5 stars 173 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Hardcover: 336 pages
  • Publisher: Random House; 1 edition (August 24, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0375508465
  • ISBN-13: 978-0375508462
  • Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1.1 x 9.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (173 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #619,576 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsFANTASTIC READING
By PR on August 25, 2004
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
I should start with a disclaimer. I'm a Vice President within one of the largest drug companies in the world and I have spent close to twenty years marketing drugs. So I guess I'm not supposed to like this book. But the truth is I thought it was fantastic.

First, for those of you who are not familiar with the healthcare industry, you should know that Ms. Angell is better capable of writing this masterpiece than any other author. She used to be Editor-in-Chief of The New England Journal of Medicine, which is considered the most prestigious medical journal in the world. Don't let her credentials scare you off, though. This is easy reading and the book captures your attention like a true business thriller, only this is real life suspense.

But this volume is much more than simple entertainment. It is quite possibly one of the best analyses of the state of the U.S. drug industry today, complete with footnotes backing up every statement the author makes. You will learn not only that in 2002 the top ten drug companies made a higher profit than the other 490 businesses together on the Fortune 500 list. You will also understand how the drug industry has been able to achieve such a business success and how this success, as is often the case throughout history, will likely be their downfall.

A political tidal wave is building which will forever change both the industry and many of its infamous business practices. It is sad to note that the drug industry today is equally poorly regarded as the tobacco companies, and this is a testament not only to the shortsighted foolishness of their management, but also to the fact that you can fool some of the customer some of the time, but not all of them all the time.

So is there no hope? Well, Ms.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsA Brave Exposé of Big Pharma
By Joel M. Kauffman on September 23, 2004
Format: Hardcover
One of the great exposés of all time, "The Truth About the Drug Companies" punctures much of the self-generated publicity of what has come to be called "Big Pharma. Beautifully written, edited and referenced in academic style, Dr. Angell begins softly and with understatement, building logically to a shattering set of conclusions and recommendations.

Pharma's claim that high drug prices in the USA are required to support innovative research is shown with plausible data to be false. Most of the innovative drugs are actually discovered in universities, at the NIH and in small companies. Pharma's expenditures for research are shown to less than half of those for sales and marketing and lobbying. About 4/5 of research dollars spent are on "me-too" drugs that are minor variations on the original drug of each type, and thus of no value to ordinary citizens.

Dr. Angell explains how Big Pharma had patent law changed to obtain up to 23 years of protection. And how minor changes in the drug molecule have somehow become patentable in direct contravention of patent law that obvious minor changes are not patentable. Mere changes in formulation somehow became protected.

Dr. Angell confirms other reports that Big Pharma has the most powerful lobby in Washington, resulting in "...an iron grip on Congress and the White House". Big Pharma has had laws passed forbidding importation of its own drugs from outside the USA. There is no technical justification for this. Big Pharma has arranged that the Medicare Drug Benefit to become effective in a couple of years does not permit Medicare to negotiate prices. This is contrary to the ability of all other national health services in the world to negotiate prices.

Dr.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsWhat Drug Companies Fear You Will Find Out
By Stuart Cameron on September 20, 2004
Format: Hardcover
As a pharmacist for 27 years, six of those working in sales for one of the "big pharma" companies, I was pleased to see that Dr. Angell has got it EXACTLY right. Pharmaceutical companies are now multinational corporations whose motives are the same as all mega corporations... money and profits.
I know Dr. Angells chapters on "The Hard Sell", "Marketing
Masquerading as Education", and "Marketing Masquerading as Research" are factual. I received training in all these methods
of bullying physicians into writing prescriptions for my products using many of the methods described in this book!
Dr. Angells descriptions of the pharmaceutical industries hold on politicians and the FDA is, again, completely correct.
Until politicians believe they may not be re-elected if they
continue to pander to "big pharma", it will never change.
If you are at all concerned about the outrageous price of prescriptions (and you should be), this is a must read. Better
yet, send a copy to your congressman, senators and state representatives. You can bet "big pharma" is squirming over this one!
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5.0 out of 5 starsFew other thoughts..............
By Jephy on December 7, 2009
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
As a physician, I guess I am one of the people who ought to be defensive about the expose' illustrated here. But I purchased the book already experiencing a good deal of abuse/shenanigans from the pharmaceutical industry, and wondering what else might be going on about which I might expand my knowledge.

From many other excellent reviews here you will know this is a must read! As one reviewer noted, it reads like a novel.....so the fiction lovers out there can delve into its details as well as those of us looking for factual marketing, political and current events reading.

Some additional notes: I'm a hospital-based anesthesiologist, and can assure readers that the tactics described herein are not limited to doctors' offices-type practices. This book does not address the techniques used by the industry to manipulate prices and costs within hospitals, but rest assured, the manipulations are there in a big way: limiting formularies, discontinuing effective and time-proven inexpensive drugs in favor of proprietary ones, marketing to non-physicians (accountants, CEO's) in a position to affect formulary decisions, etc.

There is a singular, but major criticism of this book, and that is the author's conclusion that more government involvement is one solution to reign in the excesses of the industry. This comes after the text's superior review of how government (FDA, NIH, congress-of course) has, in fact, been a major player in creating/perpetuating the problem in the first place! What a preposterous conclusion/how contradictory can one get? After recognizing, say Ted Bundy as a serial killer, would she want him chaperoning her teenage girls, using identical logic?!Read more ›
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Very informative about pharma's kitchen.

Published 1 month ago by Arturas
4.0 out of 5 starsFour Stars

Good

Published 1 month ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

great read, very eyeopening!

Published 1 month ago by C. F. Wagner
4.0 out of 5 starsHow the Drug Companies rob us.

Wow, is this revealing, though not startling. Wish there was a solution to this nationwide problem.

Published 2 months ago by American Patriot
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

This industry fosters illness via treating symptoms, not causes of disease.

Published 3 months ago by Ted Ryersbach
5.0 out of 5 starsThe thugs behind drugs

Dr. Angell was for a decade the editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, one of the most prestigious medical journals in the US. Read more

Published 3 months ago by Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 starsPrepare to shcok yourself

Now a bit dated, but only the faces have changed. These ARE the practices that are driving Americans into bankruptcy and putting pharmaceutical companies into the "axis of... Read more

Published 3 months ago by Amazon Customer
1.0 out of 5 starsrequired reading makes the best of books annoying

I had to read it for a class and although it was important information, required reading makes the best of books annoying. Read more

Published 3 months ago by Brooks M McCormick
5.0 out of 5 starsEye opening

Dr. Angell has helped to illustrate in detail the disease contriving, pill based medicine that our healthcare system has morphed into over the years. Read more

Published 3 months ago by D. Kendrick
5.0 out of 5 starsA great read- cogent and unrelenting.

If you still think your doctor is giving you accurate information and safe drugs, Harvard Medical School Prof. Marcia Angell will be happy to disabuse you. Read more

Published 3 months ago by Justin Reilly, JD

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