Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves Into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription DrugsIn the last thirty years, the big pharmaceutical companies have transformed themselves into marketing machines selling dangerous medicines as if they were Coca-Cola or Cadillacs. They pitch drugs with video games and soft cuddly toys for children; promote them in churches and subways, at NASCAR races and state fairs. They've become experts at promoting fear of disease, just so they can sell us hope. No question: drugs can save lives. But the relentless marketing that has enriched corporate executives and sent stock prices soaring has come with a dark side. Prescription pills taken as directed by physicians are estimated to kill one American every five minutes. And that figure doesn't reflect the damage done as the overmedicated take to the roads. Our Daily Meds connects the dots for the first time to show how corporate salesmanship has triumphed over science inside the biggest pharmaceutical companies and, in turn, how this promotion driven industry has taken over the practice of medicine and is changing American life. It is an ageless story of the battle between good and evil, with potentially life-changing consequences for everyone, not just the 65 percent of Americans who unscrew a prescription cap every day. An industry with the promise to help so many is now leaving a legacy of needless harm. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - satyridae - LibraryThingI thought I was plenty cynical about Big Pharma. Then I read this book and found that my view was rosy and innocent in the extreme. It's a damning indictment of the current practices of the industry ... Read full review
OUR DAILY MEDS: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves Into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs
User Review - KirkusA no-punches-pulled indictment of the pharmaceutical industry in the United States.Big Pharma has been making money but doing harm ever since it shifted a quarter-century ago from research to ... Read full review
Contents
Introduction | 3 |
ONE Creating Disease 588 | 15 |
Two Midwestern Medicine Show | 38 |
THREE Chemical Imbalance | 80 |
FOUR The Early Years | 115 |
The Age of the Blockbuster | 133 |
SEVEN Neurontin for Everything | 212 |
EIGHT Altered State | 255 |
NINE Deadly Doses | 294 |
Notes | 339 |
| 409 | |
| 415 | |
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Bibliographic information
| Title | Our Daily Meds: How the Pharmaceutical Companies Transformed Themselves Into Slick Marketing Machines and Hooked the Nation on Prescription Drugs Sarah Crichton books |
| Author | Melody Petersen |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | Macmillan, 2008 |
| ISBN | 0374228272, 9780374228279 |
| Length | 432 pages |
| Subjects | › › Business & Economics / Business Ethics Business & Economics / Industries / General Health & Fitness / Health Care Issues |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |