Haven’t read it myself, but have been following Ben Goldacre for the past year or so. This would probably be a good read, however I doubt that it’s available in Nepal. His TED presentations are quite informative. One of the video from September 2012, shared below. I also share two articles – from ArsTechnica and The Economist about this book.
ArsTechnica – Profits over your dead body
Imagine living in a world where visiting the doctor was an experience fraught with danger. Where the drugs you were prescribed may or may not be effective—and may or may not be safe. Imagine having a medical procedure recommended that wasn’t known to work. [For more…]
The Economist – The drug industry doesn’t work (November 2012)
Ben Goldacre, a British doctor and author, knows exactly what is wrong. “Medicine is broken,” he declares in his new book, “Bad Pharma”, before cataloguing the ways in which secrecy and laziness keep doctors ignorant about just what the drugs they prescribe are doing to their patients. Pharmaceutical firms routinely bury unflattering trial results and publish only the good ones. Those trials are run on unrepresentative patients, with dodgy statistical analysis, and then pushed on doctors with advertising budgets that are often bigger than those of the firms’ research-and-development arms. [for more…]
Related articles
- Book in Amazon USA Store – Bad Pharma (amazon.com)
- *Bad Pharma*, by Ben Goldacre (marginalrevolution.com)
- Transparent pills will make the best medicine (guardian.co.uk)
- ‘Bad Pharma’ says we’re all victims of drug industry (engineeringevil.com)
- From Bad Pharma to Worse (majikthyse.wordpress.com)
- Book Review: Bad Pharma – Dr. Ben Goldacre (tweedling.com)
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