Overview

""Smart, funny, clear, unflinching: Ben Goldacre is my hero."" --Mary Roach, author of Stiff, Spook, and Bonk We like to imagine that medicine is based on evidence and the results of fair testing and clinical trials. In reality, those tests and trials are often profoundly flawed. We like to imagine that doctors who write prescriptions for everything from antidepressants to cancer drugs to heart medication are familiar with the research literature about these drugs, when in reality much of the research is hidden from them by drug companies. We like to imagine that doctors are impartially educated, when in reality much of their education is funded by the pharmaceutical industry. We like to imagine that regulators have some code of ethics and let only effective drugs onto the market, when in reality they approve useless drugs, with data on side effects casually withheld from doctors and patients. All these problems have been shielded from public scrutiny because they are too complex to capture in a sound bite. Ben Goldacre shows that the true scale of this murderous disaster fully reveals itself only when the details are untangled. He believes we should all be able to understand precisely how data manipulation works and how research misconduct in the medical industry affects us on a global scale. With Goldacre's characteristic flair and a forensic attention to detail, Bad Pharma reveals a shockingly broken system in need of regulation. This is the pharmaceutical industry as it has never been seen before.

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Reviews

Praise for Bad Science

Slightly technical, eminently readable, consistently shocking, occasionally hectoring and unapologetically polemical . . . This is a book that deserves to be widely read, because anyone who does read it cannot help feeling both uncomfortable and angry. -- The Economist <br> Ben Goldacre has done it again . . . This is a morbidly fascinating and dispiriting account, yet one which deserves (and needs) to be read and acted upon without delay. --Dennis Rosen, The Boston Globe <br> Read this book. It will make you mad, it will make you scared. And, hopefully, it will bring about some change. --Chris Lee, Ars Technica <br> A thorough piece of investigative medical journalism. What keeps you turning its pages is the accessibility of Goldacre's writing, . . . his genuine, indignant passion, his careful gathering of evidence and his use of stories, some of them personal, which bring the book to life. --Luisa Dillner, The Guardian <br> Goldacre's research is scrupulous, and lay readers may find themselves converted by his geeky ardor. -- The New Yorker <br> [A]n eye-opening glance into a world of experts who have failed us. -- The New York Times Book Review <br> In this searing expose of the pharmaceutical industry, physician and journalist Goldacre uncovers a cesspool of corrupt practices designed to sell useless or dangerous drugs to an unsuspecting public . . . Goldacre conveys complicated scientific, medical, and ethical issues in simple, clear, plainspoken language that pulls no punches. The result is a smart, infuriating diagnosis of the rotten heart of the medical-industrial complex. -- Publishers Weekly <br> A useful guide for policymakers, doctors and the patients who need protection against deliberate disinformation. -- Kirkus Reviews <br> Goldacre's essential expose will prompt readers to ask more questions before automatically popping a doctor-prescribed pill. --Karen Springen, Booklist <p>Praise for Bad Scie

Slightly technical, eminently readable, consistently shocking, occasionally hectoring and unapologetically polemical . . . This is a book that deserves to be widely read, because anyone who does read it cannot help feeling both uncomfortable and angry. -- The Economist Ben Goldacre has done it again . . . This is a morbidly fascinating and dispiriting account, yet one which deserves (and needs) to be read and acted upon without delay. --Dennis Rosen, The Boston Globe Read this book. It will make you mad, it will make you scared. And, hopefully, it will bring about some change. --Chris Lee, Ars Technica A thorough piece of investigative medical journalism. What keeps you turning its pages is the accessibility of Goldacre's writing, . . . his genuine, indignant passion, his careful gathering of evidence and his use of stories, some of them personal, which bring the book to life. --Luisa Dillner, The Guardian Goldacre's research is scrupulous, and lay readers may find themselves converted by his geeky ardor. -- The New Yorker [A]n eye-opening glance into a world of experts who have failed us. -- The New York Times Book Review In this searing expose of the pharmaceutical industry, physician and journalist Goldacre uncovers a cesspool of corrupt practices designed to sell useless or dangerous drugs to an unsuspecting public . . . Goldacre conveys complicated scientific, medical, and ethical issues in simple, clear, plainspoken language that pulls no punches. The result is a smart, infuriating diagnosis of the rotten heart of the medical-industrial complex. -- Publishers Weekly A useful guide for policymakers, doctors and the patients who need protection against deliberate disinformation. -- Kirkus Reviews Goldacre's essential expose will prompt readers to ask more questions before automatically popping a doctor-prescribed pill. --Karen Springen, Booklist Praise for Bad Scie

Author Information

Ben Goldacre is a doctor and a writer. His first book, Bad Science, was an international bestseller and has been translated into twenty-five languages. He lives in London.

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