The Risks of Prescription Drugs

The Risks of Prescription Drugs tackles critical questions about the pharmaceutical industry and the privatization of risk. To what extent does the FDA protect the public from serious side effects and disasters? What is the effect of giving the private sector and markets a greater role and reducing public oversight? This volume considers whether current rules and incentives put patients' health at greater risk, the effect of the expansion of disease categories, the industry's justification of high U.S. prices, and the underlying shifts in the burden or risk borne by individuals in the world of pharmaceuticals.

"Although many are aware that pharmaceutical industry lobbyists influence policy decisions, few know the full consequences. This book is enlightening." Jill Quadagno, author of The Transformation of Old Age Security

"Clear, concise, and unflinching, this book provides consumers with tools for self-defense and concerned citizens with a road map for rebalancing American medicine." John Abramson, author of Overdosed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine

"This book introduces important debates on pharmaceutical promotion and marketing, needed drug evaluation and regulation, professional conflicts of interest, and increased medicalization of behavior. It explores important trends and policy questions that all engaged citizens should consider." David Mechanic, author of The Truth About Health Care: Why Reform is not Working in America

Donald W. Light is professor of social medicine and comparative health care at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and a senior visiting researcher at Princeton University.