Bad Pharma
by Ben Goldacre · first published 2012
65% recommend34% neutral2% critical
Why HN recommends it
A calm account of how drug trials, hidden negative results, marketing and payments to doctors distort medicine, framed as systemic failure rather than conspiracy. An accessible entry point for lay readers.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
We like to imagine that medicine is based on evidence and the results of fair tests. In reality, those tests are often profoundly flawed. We like to imagine that doctors are familiar with the research literature about a drug, 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 let only effective drugs onto the market, when in reality they approve useless drugs, with data on side effects casually wi
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I just listened to the book Bad Pharma, by Ben Goldacre, which deals with this problem. The author works as a doctor and so has a bit of an inside view of how the industry does 'science' and how this affects doctors and patients. The lack…
on “FDA and NIH let clinical trial sponsors keep results secret and break the law” ↗My favorite tidbit about pharma payments to physicians comes from Ben Goldacre's book, Bad Pharma. Based on a survey, most physicians think that the money doctors receive from pharma definitely affects their prescribing choices, HOWEVER, that only applies to other doctors. Each doctor is convinced…
on “Pharma Paid Physicians $6.5B in 2014 – Looking into the Open Payments Dataset” ↗I don't think companies spend as much as we believe in researching drugs. Companies spend most on advertising and incentivizing the doctors to prescribe their medicines. The book: Bad Pharma [1] is an eye opener. The drug "Sovaldi" is making them $2.8ish billion dollars per quarter, that is almost $12 billion a year. I don't believe they spent tens of billions in developing the drug. [2]…
on “How India's Patent Office Destroyed Gilead's Global Game Plan” ↗Ben Goldacre's Bad Pharma ( http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Pharma-Companies-Mislead-Patients/... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bad-Pharma-companies-mislead-patient... ) covers some of the same ground. He's a physician who writes mostly…
on “Something Doesn't Add Up: John Ioannidis and medical statistics” ↗Anti-depressants didn't ever do anything for me, either. Although I suspect that the only anxiety attack I've ever had could very well have been caused by them. In his awesome book Bad Pharma, Ben Goldacre also hints that the link between depression and serotonin levels is not very well established. For those of you that don't know, Ben Goldacre is not some quack that pretends that science…
on “The Serotonin Levels-Depression Link Is a 'Marketing Myth,' Psychiatrist Claims” ↗I hope that this is widely used, and that Private Eye picks up on it as a source of information. Also if any commenters haven't read "Bad Science", and the follow-up "Bad Pharma" by Ben Goldachre (who inspired the tool) they are well worth a read.
on “Tool 'names and shames' hidden drug trials” ↗Read Dr Ben Goldacre's book "Bad Pharma". Scientific misconduct is endemic in the pharmaceutical industry, most importantly in the form of publication bias. Vast swathes of research goes MIA, with the statistical analysis showing clearly that…
on “Placebos becoming too effective, pharma industry worries” ↗For anyone interested in the generally fucked up state of clinical drug trials, I highly recommend Ben Goldacre's excellent book Bad Pharma. It'll make you angry.
on “The Deadly Corruption of Clinical Trials” ↗I'm somewhat familiar with industry practices (worked on software for the pharma industry) and just read 'Bad Pharma' by Ben Goldacre. It is a pretty well sourced and argued description of practices in the pharma industry and I haven't seen any worthy rebuttal of his arguments. I'm not familiar with Marcia Angell's…
on “Lessons Learned from a Pharma-Free Practice Transformation” ↗…trials, there is pretty much no guarantee of anything. Just because something makes sense on paper doesn't mean that it's actually true. There are a number of books about the issues with drug trials... Bad Pharma by Ben Goldacre, The Truth About Drug Companies by Marcia Angell, Overdosed America, etc. All of these books cover largely different issues, so imho it's worth reading them all.
on “The Placebo Effect Doesn’t Apply Just to Pills” ↗Have you read Bad Pharma by Ben Goldacre? One of the more interesting findings discussed in the book is that doctors were convinced they were personally not affected by drug company PR/goodies (3 day conferences in Bahamas,…
on “OxyContin's 12-hour problem” ↗Ben Goldacre's book 'Bad Pharma' has a good discussion around this, especially in terms of caveats and gotchas to watch out for with such studies. It might be more 'lay person' than you are looking for, but it's an excellent read for…
on “Glucosamine significantly reduces risk of lung cancer and lung cancer mortality” ↗…trials would have revealed the large fraction of people[1] who were predisposed to adverse reaction. There are serious problems with drugs qualification testing in the US and EU. Why don't you go read Bad Pharma by Ben Goldacre. here is a preview. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKmxL8VYy0M >Is ten thousand people not enough for you? .... The statistics have to be credible. http://www.amazon.com/How-Lie-Statistics-Darrell-Huff/dp/039...…
on “Why Your Dog Can Get Vaccinated Against Lyme Disease And You Can’t” ↗…trials would have revealed the large fraction of people[1] who were predisposed to adverse reaction. There are serious problems with drugs qualification testing in the US and EU. Why don't you go read Bad Pharma by Ben Goldacre. here is a preview. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKmxL8VYy0M* Because I don't need any more of a headache than you've already given me. "Predisposed" in your post comes with some big*…
on “Why Your Dog Can Get Vaccinated Against Lyme Disease And You Can’t” ↗There's also the point to consider that much of the pharma industry's output is bogus: see Ben Goldacre's recent book Bad Pharma.
on “What The Swedish Pirate Party Wants With Patents, Trademarks, And Copyright” ↗