Big pharma accused of mafiaism

In a new book, Deadly Medicines and Organised Crime, Professor Peter Gøtzsche, director of the independent research institution the Nordic Cochrane Centre, launches a scathing attack on the pharmaceutical industry.

“I have investigated the ten largest pharmaceutical companies in the world and found that their business model satisfies the criteria for organised crime.” Gøtzsche told DR News.

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Interesting read. I hope this gets some attention.
In the book, he talks about how medical companies pay huge settlements, sometimes in the billions, to avoid going to court. It is very infuriating that you can buy immunity for legal prosecution if you just have enough money.

'The main reason
we take so many drugs is that drug companies don't sell drugs, they sell lies about drugs. This is what makes drugs so different from anything else in life...Virtually everything we know about drugs is what the companies have chosen to tell us and our doctors...the reason patients trust their medicine is that they extrapolate the trust they have in their doctors into the medicines they prescribe. The patients don't realise that, although their doctors may know a lot about diseases and human physiology and psychology, they know very, very little about drugs that hasn't been carefully concocted and dressed up by the drug industry…If you don't think the system is out of control, then please email me and explain why drugs are the third leading cause of death…If such a hugely lethal epidemic had been caused by a new bacterium or a virus, or even one hundredth of it, we would have done everything we could to get it under control.'​
From the Introduction

Prescription drugs are the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer.
In his latest ground-breaking book, Peter C Gøtzsche exposes the pharmaceutical industries and their charade of fraudulent behavior, both in research and marketing where the morally repugnant disregard for human lives is the norm 1. He convincingly draws close comparisons with the tobacco conglomerates, revealing the extraordinary truth behind efforts to confuse and distract the public and their politicians.
The book addresses, in evidence-based detail, an extraordinary system failure caused by widespread crime, corruption, bribery and impotent drug regulation in need of radical reforms.
Peter is Director of The Nordic Cochrane Centre.
Professor Peter C Gøtzsche graduated as a master of science in biology and chemistry in 1974 and as a physician 1984. He is a specialist in internal medicine; worked with clinical trials and regulatory affairs in the drug industry 1975-1983, and at hospitals in Copenhagen 1984-95. He cofounded The Cochrane Collaboration in 1993 and established The Nordic Cochrane Centre the same year. He became professor of Clinical Research Design and Analysis in 2010 at the University of Copenhagen.
Peter has published more than 50 papers in ”the big five” (BMJ, Lancet, JAMA, Ann Intern Med and N Engl J Med) and his scientific works have been cited over 9,000 times. He is author of Rational Diagnosis and Treatment. Evidence-Based Clinical Decision-Making (2007) and Mammography Screening: truth, lies and controversy (2012).
Peter has an interest in statistics and research methodology. He is a member of several groups publishing guidelines for good reporting of research and has co-authored CONSORT for randomised trials (www.consort-statement.org), STROBE for observational studies (www.strobe-statement.org), PRISMA for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (www.prisma-statement.org), and SPIRIT for trial protocols (www.equator-network.org...). Peter is an editor in the Cochrane Methodology Review Group.

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reply to post by Mads1987

It is very infuriating that you can buy immunity for legal prosecution if you just have enough money.

Yes indeed...although...you can blame a part of that problem on people...willing to settle out of court. I find it disgusting that people are willing to forget anything, even a death of a family member...if you just drop a big enough sum of money on the table.