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Bad Pharma
- How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients
- Narrated by: Jot Davies
- Length: 12 hrs and 47 mins
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Bad Pharma
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Summary
Shortlisted for: Popular Non-Fiction Book of the Year – Specsavers National Book Awards 2012
'Bad Science’ hilariously exposed the tricks that quacks and journalists use to distort science, becoming a 400,000 copy bestseller. Now Ben Goldacre puts the $600bn global pharmaceutical industry under the microscope. What he reveals is a fascinating, terrifying mess.
Doctors and patients need good scientific evidence to make informed decisions. But instead, companies run bad trials on their own drugs, which distort and exaggerate the benefits by design. When these trials produce unflattering results, the data is simply buried. All of this is perfectly legal. In fact, even government regulators withhold vitally important data from the people who need it most. Doctors and patient groups have stood by too, and failed to protect us. Instead, they take money and favours, in a world so fractured that medics and nurses are now educated by the drugs industry.
The pharmaceutical industry spends more on marketing than it does on research and development. New diseases are invented in order to swell profits. It distorts and suppresses the results of clinical trials if they are unfavourable. Patients' pressure groups are covertly sponsored by pill manufacturers. Its offences are countless and the consequences are felt by us all. What we trust to cure us may be ineffectual or actually harmful. Patients are harmed in huge numbers.
Ben Goldacre is Britain’s finest writer on the science behind medicine, and ‘Bad Pharma’ is a clear and witty attack, showing exactly how the science has been distorted, how our systems have been broken, and how easy it would be to fix them.
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What listeners say about Bad Pharma
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-09-18
Everybody should read this...
...that's said too often, but in this case there's every chance that our children's lives could depend on it. And that isn't hyperbole, all of our lives could be extended if this book was absorbed and acted upon by a critical mass of people. Get stuck in, take notes and take action.
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- Brian Mc
- 02-04-18
Humans are difficult
Brilliant book, which I highly recommend. The author is inspiring in terms of his thoroughness and clear challenges to the pharma industry, reps, doctors etc. While I do support Goldacre's views - I consider they don't take into account the need medicine (NHS) has in funding that emerges from big pharma. We are in a capitalist culture and so big money and profits drive everything. This is sad but it is reality. We need a benevolent dictator...maybe Goldacre would be a good one!! Read this book!
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- Daniel Sartori
- 09-02-16
Shocking!!
An astonishing account of the murky world of Pharma and how this affects all of us, and yet could be simply solved.
The audiobook is clear and well read.
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- Max
- 13-12-13
Fascinating and scary in parts
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
The main thrust of the book is the process by which new medicines are developed is broken and counter-productive and leads to unsafe products
Who was your favorite character and why?
It is factual, so there are no characters
Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
Angry and scared that this is happening, and powerless that I can't control and stop it.
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- John Goodwin
- 04-12-22
Everyone in healthcare needs to read this
Great book - important insights. Although a lot of this was already familiar to me it was still harrowing to hear.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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- Marco LS G
- 12-10-19
Scary litany of cynical corporate manipulation
Story full of detailed analysis of big Pharma manipulation of test data to produce favourable and marketable outcomes. The relentless listing of data is tough to listen to. Probably better suited to Kindle where you can scroll back and make notes.
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1 person found this helpful
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- MAH
- 18-11-20
evidence based practice
well thought out arguments as to why we need proper regulations to make medicine evidence led
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- Anonymous User
- 12-10-20
well explained expose on pharmaceutical industry
Loved this book, although the level of systematic failure / corruption it highlights within the pharmaceutical industry, and those who are supposed to ensure it best serves the needs of patients, is pretty depressing. Everyone should know about this.
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- HappyCat
- 12-09-15
For Everyone who had ever taken a medicine
Would you listen to Bad Pharma again? Why?
It's message is phenomenally important for modern medicine,
What did you like best about this story?
All of it. Especially the introduction and final chapter
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
The need for access to evidence and trials . even negative trials
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Simon Davidson
- 24-04-16
Interesting topic
Would you listen to Bad Pharma again? Why?
Very interesting topic. This book exposes the fact that different medicines for the same conditions are not tested against each other and a new drug only has to be better than nothing to be given a licence.
If you’ve listened to books by Ben Goldacre before, how does this one compare?
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Which character – as performed by Jot Davies – was your favourite?
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Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Some of it was a bit repetitive.
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