
Pharma
Greed, Lies, and the Poisoning of America
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Narrated by:
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Jacques Roy
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By:
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Gerald Posner
About this listen
Award-winning journalist and New York Times best-selling author Gerald Posner reveals the heroes and villains of the trillion-dollar-a-year pharmaceutical industry and delivers “a withering and encyclopedic indictment of a drug industry that often seems to prioritize profits over patients" (The New York Times Book Review).
Pharmaceutical breakthroughs such as antibiotics and vaccines rank among some of the greatest advancements in human history. Yet, exorbitant prices for life-saving drugs, safety recalls affecting tens of millions of Americans, and soaring rates of addiction and overdose on prescription opioids have caused many to lose faith in drug companies. Now, Americans are demanding a national reckoning with a monolithic industry.
Pharma introduces brilliant scientists, in-corruptible government regulators, and brave whistle-blowers facing off against company executives often blinded by greed. A business that profits from treating ills can create far deadlier problems than it cures. Addictive products are part of the industry’s DNA, from the days when corner drugstores sold morphine, heroin, and cocaine, to the past two decades of dangerously overprescribed opioids.
Pharma also uncovers the real story of the Sacklers, the family that became one of America’s wealthiest from the success of OxyContin, their blockbuster narcotic painkiller at the center of the opioid crisis. Relying on thousands of pages of government and corporate archives, dozens of hours of interviews with insiders, and previously classified FBI files, Posner exposes the secrets of the Sacklers’ rise to power - revelations that have long been buried under a byzantine web of interlocking companies with ever-changing names and hidden owners. The unexpected twists and turns of the Sackler family saga are told against the startling chronicle of a powerful industry that sits at the intersection of public health and profits. Pharma reveals how and why American drug companies have put earnings ahead of patients.
©2020 Gerald Posner (P)2020 Simon & Schuster AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Story
From its beginnings in the 1890s, Miami Beach has been a place made by visionaries and hustlers. During Prohibition, Al Capone had to muscle into its bootlegging and gambling businesses. After December 1941, when the Beach was the training ground for half a million army recruits, even the war couldn't stop the party. After a short postwar boom, the city's luck gave out. But in 1981, 125,000 Cubans arrived by the boatload.
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Good Miami Beach History
- By Drew Roberts on 11-02-23
By: Gerald Posner
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Killing the Dream
- James Earl Ray and the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
- By: Gerald Posner
- Narrated by: Brian Holsopple
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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In the three decades since April 4, 1968, when Martin Luther King, Jr., was shot to death in Memphis, scores of books and articles have questioned whether James Earl Ray, King's killer, acted alone or was part of a larger conspiracy. Now, based on explosive new interviews, confidential files, and previously undisclosed evidence, best-selling author Gerald Posner finally resolves the simple truth of the last great political murder mystery of the 1960s, definitively proving that Ray acted alone.
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Enlightening
- By Thornton Mellon on 05-19-19
By: Gerald Posner
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Bad Pharma
- How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients
- By: Ben Goldacre
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cowley
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Medicine is broken. We like to imagine that it's 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 surrounding 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 industry.
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A must read for health professionals
- By zerodynamics on 03-01-13
By: Ben Goldacre
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An American Sickness
- How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back
- By: Elisabeth Rosenthal
- Narrated by: Nancy Linari
- Length: 13 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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It is well documented that our health-care system has grave problems, but how, in only a matter of decades, did things get this bad? Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal doesn't just explain the symptoms; she diagnoses and treats the disease itself. Rosenthal spells out in clear and practical terms exactly how to decode medical doublespeak, avoid the pitfalls of the pharmaceuticals racket, and get the care you and your family deserve. She takes you inside the doctor-patient relationship, explaining step by step the workings of a profession sorely lacking transparency.
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Not well balanced
- By Anonymous User on 02-12-18
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Pain Killer
- An Empire of Deceit and the Origin of America's Opioid Epidemic
- By: Barry Meier
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Between 1999 and 2017, an estimated 250,000 Americans died from overdoses involving prescription painkillers, a plague ignited by Purdue Pharma’s aggressive marketing of OxyContin. Families, working class and wealthy, have been torn apart, businesses destroyed, and public officials pushed to the brink. Meanwhile, the drugmaker’s owners, Raymond and Mortimer Sackler, whose names adorn museums worldwide, made enormous fortunes from the commercial success of OxyContin.
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Infuriating and Compelling
- By TiffanyD on 12-24-18
By: Barry Meier
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The Truth About the Drug Companies
- How They Deceive Us and What to Do About It
- By: Marcia Angell
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 7 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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In this explosive expose of the drug companies and how they are ripping us off, Marcia Angell, M.D., a doctor, medical journalist, and a former editor of the respected New England Journal of Medicine, reveals the many ways in which the pharmaceutical industry has moved away from its original purpose of finding and producing useful new drugs.
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Pronunciation
- By Greg on 05-22-07
By: Marcia Angell
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Butchered by "Healthcare"
- What to Do About Doctors, Big Pharma, and Corrupt Government Ruining Your Health and Medical Care
- By: Robert Yoho MD
- Narrated by: Robert Yoho
- Length: 9 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Learn how big Pharma sells drugs by faking their studies. Understand the lies they stuff into websites and medical journals. Learn why it all gets ignored (hint: Pharma has the largest criminal settlements in history). Learn how to conquer healthcare costs. Medical spending per person is double that of other countries and it is the top reason for US personal bankruptcy. I will show you how to escape the over-billing and prosper anyway.
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on point
- By Karen Grevious on 04-09-23
By: Robert Yoho MD
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Empire of Pain
- The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
- By: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Narrated by: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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The prize-winning and best-selling author of Say Nothing presents a grand, devastating portrait of three generations of the Sackler family, famed for their philanthropy, whose fortune was built by Valium and whose reputation was destroyed by OxyContin. Empire of Pain is a masterpiece of narrative reporting and writing, exhaustively documented and ferociously compelling.
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Full Account of the Sackler Conspiracy
- By Edward Bisch on 04-13-21
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Follow the Science
- How Big Pharma Misleads, Obscures, and Prevails
- By: Sharyl Attkisson
- Narrated by: Sharyl Attkisson
- Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Follow the Science recounts, in exacting detail, how far the pharmaceutical industry and its supporters in medicine, media, and government will go to protect their profits. Attkisson provides shocking examples that reveal the disturbing callousness our government, public health officials, and top researchers are capable of when it comes to the most vulnerable among us. And she explains, in a graphic sense, how some of the most trusted within our society are willing to commit life-threatening ethics violations.
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Well researched
- By Ms. Crawley on 12-27-24
By: Sharyl Attkisson
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Operation Paperclip
- The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America
- By: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 19 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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In the chaos following World War II, the US government faced many difficult decisions, including what to do with the Third Reich's scientific minds. These were the brains behind the Nazis' once-indomitable war machine. So began Operation Paperclip, a decades-long, covert project to bring Hitler's scientists and their families to the United States. Many of these men were accused of war crimes, and others had stood trial at Nuremberg; one was convicted of mass murder and slavery.
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The Osenberg list
- By Jean on 08-07-14
By: Annie Jacobsen
What listeners say about Pharma
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- Linda K.
- 06-30-23
Finally The Truth
I thought I knew something about Big Pharma, having worked in a hospital for 30 years.I only knew what they wanted us to know. Now I know the whole sordid truth. This book is so valuable, not only as a resource reference, but tells us the truth about the opioid scandal and the Sackler family. it was long, but well worth the read.
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- MrGetFitz
- 09-03-20
Informative but too long
A great read about history of pharma and focus on key events over the years and associated wrong doings. Content could be reduced by 20% as it is a very long book.
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- Denham
- 11-01-22
A comprehensive timeline at the pharmaceutical industry
Whether you love or hate the pharmaceutical industry, this book is a comprehensive timeline of its beginnings in the United States, bringing it to current day. It answers questions you never knew you had. Well worth your time, no matter how long this book takes to get through.
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- Donald
- 06-11-24
this book will make you nauseous but after reading it you wont wanna medicate.
its a great picture of the complex (and largely dysfunctional) relationship between industrial pharma, regulatory body and the public.
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- david
- 09-29-21
excellent
detailed, very educational, and shocking. if you are interested in the history of pharmacology this is for you and highly recommended.
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- Golfgirl
- 04-09-24
not proud to have worked in the pharma industry
like: the comprehensive history
dislike: too much Sackler
the Oxi/ Sackler story takes too much room
seen the full background, there is not much ethical in ethical pharma
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- Shirdent
- 10-10-22
wow
a book for our times! not just pharma. the author covers the cultural backdrop.
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- Joe's Pizza
- 02-19-24
One sided hit piece
Let's hope the author never needs life saving medication. If he takes it he risks being a massive hypocrite.
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- Roy Payne
- 12-14-23
All of the information
I seeked out this to understand Pharma, because I’m I’m an investor. This book has increased my knowledge ! Also, I’ll be a lot more aware when going to my dr appointments
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- Brian Gyomory
- 10-08-24
Best book I’ve ever listened to
This book was amazing. Have a great background of the pharmaceutical industry in the United States that led to the opioid epidemic.
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