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seventhswan's review
4.0
Not a particularly easy read but a very necessary one. I went from "disappointed but not surprised" to "actively outraged" over the course of the book, and would love another update on how Goldacre's work is going.
nikkideeley's review against another edition
5.0
A critical look at the pharmaceutical industry and the misinformation in the medical world.
As someone who is on both sides of the coin working as a research and also a rare disease patient, I found this book very interesting. The book highlights some good valid points which need to be further investigated and legislation needs to change. I think this is a key read to gain better understanding of the industry and where changes need to happen.
As someone who is on both sides of the coin working as a research and also a rare disease patient, I found this book very interesting. The book highlights some good valid points which need to be further investigated and legislation needs to change. I think this is a key read to gain better understanding of the industry and where changes need to happen.
wayfarer_0's review against another edition
challenging
funny
hopeful
informative
reflective
fast-paced
3.75
tombomp's review against another edition
4.0
Pretty good, does exactly what it says on the tin and is written in a pretty informal and entertaining style that makes it a breeze to read. I don't know enough about the subject to comment on stuff he's missed out or anything like that. Would say he's way too optimistic about stuff like transparency as a cure all and doesn't see how much these problems are baked into a capitalist pharmaceutical industry but ah well can't expect everything. I appreciate his suggestions about how to change things - even though they're obviously limited it's at least a start and could inspire people to do good things. More books should have stuff like that. Enjoyable interesting and also horrifying book.
gabe_reads's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
4.5
The chapters are:
- Missing data
- Where do new drugs come from?
- Bad regulators
- Bad trials
- Bigger, simpler trials
- Marketing
A lot of this book is frankly shocking. I'm especially disappointed by the behaviour of the EMA, given I'd have expected the Europeans to be good at this sort of thing. And it really does give a strong message of how unethical and evil drug companies can be. But also how twisted all the other players in this game can act, making the problem worse.
I think the prose is very well done. He writes in an engaging, conversational style that really takes you along for the journey. I think the use of solid examples is really good as well. It gives you a basis to understand the overall message. I feel I learnt a lot about statins too lol.
I like how he has a lot of focus on possible solutions, though some are probably quite unrealistic in the real world. I learnt a lot about how bad the regulatory process is, which I was unaware of before. And about how little research is done on finding out which drug is the best, especially once they've both been approved. I thought the big trials he was involved with that involve a tiny amount of effort from doctors, looks very promising. Hopefully more of that will happen in the future.