Sickening by Dr. John Abramson

[NHE]

I have just finished reading Dr. John Abramson's book Sickening: How Big Pharma Broke American Health Care and How We Can Repair It. The book is well written with abundant references. It's a must read for anyone with MS. An entire chapter discusses Neurontin (gabapentin) and how it was illegally promoted for off label use for which there was no evidence and has little efficacy. Dr. John Abramson served as an expert witness during the trial against Pfizer. He provides a first person account of Pfizer's deception.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1328957810/

Here's an introduction from the inside flaps of the dust jacket.

"The inside story of how Big Pharma's relentless pursuit of ever-higher profits corrupts medical knowledge, misleading American health care, and harming our health.

The United States spends an excess $1.5 trillion annually on health care compared to other wealthy countries – yet the amount of time Americans live in good health ranks a lowly sixty-eight in the world. At the heart of the problem is Big Pharma, which funds most clinical trials and therefore controls the research agenda, withholds the real data from those trials as corperate secrets and shapes most of the information relies upon by health-care professionals.

In this no-holds-barred exposé, Dr. John Abramson – one of the foremost experts on the drug industry's deceptive tactics – combines patient stories with what he learned during many years of serving as an expert in national drug litigation to reveal the tangled web of financial interests at the heart of the dysfunction in our health-care system. For example, one of Pharma's best-kept secrets is that the peer reviewers charged with ensuring the accuracy and completeness of the clinical trial reports published in medical journals do not even have access to complete data and must rely on manufacture-influenced summaries. Likewise for experts who write clinical practice guidelines that define our standards of care.

The result of years of research and privileged access to the inner workings of the U.S. medical-industrial complex, Sickening shines a light on the dark underbelly of American health care – and presents a path toward genuine reform."