From an
award-winning journalist, an explosive narrative investigation of the
generic drug boom that reveals fraud and life-threatening dangers on
a global scale—The Jungle for pharmaceuticals
Many have hailed the
widespread use of generic drugs as one of the most important
public-health developments of the twenty-first century. Today, almost
90 percent of our pharmaceutical market is comprised of generics, the
majority of which are manufactured overseas. We have been reassured
by our doctors, our pharmacists and our regulators that generic drugs
are identical to their brand-name counterparts, just less expensive.
But is this really true?
Katherine Eban’s
Bottle of Lies exposes the deceit behind generic-drug
manufacturing—and the attendant risks for global health. Drawing on
exclusive accounts from whistleblowers and regulators, as well as
thousands of pages of confidential FDA documents, Eban reveals an
industry where fraud is rampant, companies routinely falsify data,
and executives circumvent almost every principle of safe
manufacturing to minimize cost and maximize profit, confident in
their ability to fool inspectors. Meanwhile, patients unwittingly
consume medicine with unpredictable and dangerous effects.
The story of generic
drugs is truly global. It connects middle America to China, India,
sub-Saharan Africa and Brazil, and represents the ultimate litmus
test of globalization: what are the risks of moving drug
manufacturing offshore, and are they worth the savings?
A decade-long
investigation with international sweep, high-stakes brinkmanship and
big money at its core, Bottle of Lies reveals how the world’s
greatest public-health innovation has become one of its most
astonishing swindles.