Bad Pharma

"In response to some recent comments on the blog some of you may be encouraged to read Ben Goldacre's new book, or watch his new TED Talk. We are acutely aware of the issues he raises and these need to be put into context! In short, if you create perverse incentives you get perverse behaviour. A well known colleague of mine, from the Netherlands, said to me two weeks ago that the Pharmaceutical Industry is rapidly taking over from the Banking Industry as the bad boys on the block. If this is the general public perception it is very serious; we need a well regulated and functioning pharmaceutical sector for improving the health of the world. Let's hope the politicians are listening! I have quietly been suggesting to the MS Pharma Companies that they need to form a group to discuss this issue and to see what can be done to improve things. We need to be educated about why it takes so long, and costs so much, to develop drugs and why the drug markets are currently so dysfunctional; they are not behaving rationally. Unless the they start talking and cooperating the Red Queen may be a dead Queen!"



A short excerpt from the introductory chapter:


Ben Goldacre's new TED Talk:



Previous posts in relation to the Red Queen effect:

13 Jun 2012
The Red Queen Effect, is a term taken from the Red Queen's race in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass. The Red Queen said, "It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place." The marketing departments ...
26 Sep 2012
This reminds me of the red queen! Each company feels it has to keep up with ... http://multiple-sclerosis-research.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/ectrims-red-queen-is-live-and-running.html. Wednesday, September 26, 2012 9:05:00 ...
27 Nov 2011
The Red Queen Effect, is a term taken from the Red Queen's race in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass. The Red Queen said, "It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place." The marketing departments ...

12 Sep 2012
This drug was used for decades off-license at very little cost to the NHS (~£800-£1,000 per patient per year). However, once a trial was done and the drug licensed under the EU orphan-disease legislation the cost went up to ...

Labels: , ,