Bottle of Lies

The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom

De: Katherine Eban

Narrado por: Katherine Eban

From an award-winning Fortune reporter, an explosive narrative investigation of the generic drug boom that reveals the life-threatening dangers posed by globalization—The Jungle for pharmaceuticals

The widespread use of generic drugs has been hailed as one of the most important public health developments of the twentieth 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 pharmacists, our doctors, and our regulators that the generic and brand-name drugs are identical, generics just cheaper. But is this really true?

Katherine Eban’s Bottle of Lies exposes the widespread deceit behind generic drug manufacturing—creating terrifying risks for global health. Drawing on exclusive accounts from whistleblowers, inspectors, and regulators, as well as thousands of pages of confidential internal FDA documents, Eban reveals an industry where fraud is rampant, companies falsify data, and executives circumvent almost every principle of safe manufacturing to minimize cost and maximize profit. Meanwhile, patients unwittingly consume adulterated medicine with unpredictable and even life-threatening effects.

The story of generic drugs is truly global: it connects middle America to sub-Saharan Africa, China, India, and Brazil, and encompasses every market banking on the promise of a low-cost cure. Given that tens of millions of patients take drugs of dubious quality approved with fake data, the generics industry is the ultimate litmus test of globalization: what is the risk of moving drug manufacturing offshore, and is it worth the savings?

An investigation with international sweep, exotic settings, molecular mayhem, 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.

A frightening book!

This book is a devastating critique of the generic drug market. Author Katherine Eban documents a host of companies and individuals who systematically engaged in deception and fraud in the manufacture of generic drugs overseas. She concentrates on a huge drug firm in India, but in the epilogue she reviews firms in China. It is absolutely frightening that many of these overseas generic drug companies produce essentially dangerous drugs which are distributed in the US and other countries around the world. It is simply unconscionable that these drugs are shipped to 3rd world countries which possess limited means to screen these drugs.

There are several heroes in her book who go out of their way to try to expose those shoddy and unsafe drugs. It is particularly scary that our own FDA apparently, in many cases, thwarts honest FDA drug inspectors who criticize and issue stern warnings about dishonest companies. It appears that the FDA is more interested in insuring an adequate supply of generics because of congressional pressure, than insuring the safety of those drugs imported from overseas. I wonder just how many FDA officials are willing to take drugs made by these firms or allowing family members to take these drugs if this book is true?

Scariest book ever

This is a must read...but you may never trust ANY medicine ever again. My husband and Ilistened together--and have recommended the book to literally everyone we meet/

FDA bought and paid for

If you were ever under the impression that the FDA had the best interest of the citizens of the USA, you would be sadly mistaken. This book will enlighten you and make you think twice about ever taking a generic medication again. I’m a physician in Tulsa, Oklahoma and wonder how some drug manufacturers and FDA regulators sleep at night.

A must read!

Mind blowing and shocking, this investigative report into the making of our generic drugs reads like a mystery novel. Throughout the entire 17+ hours I was waiting for the culmination, which is the most shocking of all. This book has left me deeply unsettled and questioning my firmly held beliefs in the basic goodness of people whose business is to improve the health of other humans.

Highly recommended if you want to know more about the pharmaceutical industry

A really interesting book describing the rise of Indian pharma generics industry which points out how the Indian (and a few Chinese) companies cut corners and subverted regulatory requirements in their quest for growth.