Bad Pharma

[Cassie]

http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Pharma-Ben Goldacre/dp/0007350740/ref=sr_1_1_title_2_pap?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1355596318&sr=1-1&keywords=bad+pharma

This is a book that's on my to-read list. It's about the broken system of medical research within the drug companies and academia. The author is a psychiatrist and author of another book called Bad Science. This one is more focused on the pharmaceutical companies.

Here is his Ted Talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/ben_goldacre_what_doctors_don_t_know_about_the_drugs_they_prescribe.html

[highonlife]

Thanks for sharing!

[Motivation_Follows_Action]

The guy who invented and greatly encouraged the distrubtion of pain relieving opioids was quoted in the WSJ today saying he wished he'd never done it, if he'd known the grip they (oxycontin, vicodin, percocet) would have had on the general public and how many lives they've ruined. Last year these drugs were responsible for more deaths and overdoses than all illegal drugs combined.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324478304578173342657044604.html?mod=WSJ_article_LatestHeadlines

We know so little. I wonder what the harm has been to all the takers of legal amphetamines since the 1930s when they were discovered as a drug looking for a disease.

Ok here endeth the lesson. Sorry to be preachy.

[Jon]

The TED talk was outstanding. Thank you for sharing it with us Cassie. I always intuitively knew we were playing with a fixed deck. Now I know exactly why. They simply don't publish trials for their drugs that have negative outcomes! It is downright criminal.

[Zerokewl]

truth bombs