Pharmaphobia: How the Conflict of Interest Myth Undermines American Medical Innovation - Hardcover

An accomplished hematologist and researcher at Boston's Brigham & Women's Hospital and the American Cancer Society professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, Stossel's book portrays the prevailing indictment of Big Pharma. * Fox News * Pharmaphobia: How the Conflict of Interest Myth Undermines American Medical Innovation-part polemic, part analytic investigation, a history of medicine and a memoir-deserves a wide readership. * The Wall Street Journal * Stossel provides a thorough discussion using scientific evidence to dispute the claims of the COI movement. Furthermore, he provides a number of studies indicating that there is no evidence that any of these practices result in harm to patients. . . .After being exposed to the barrage of negativism that surrounds the biopharmaceutical industry, Pharmaphobia is a refreshing validation of the value inherent in the biopharmaceutical industry. It provides a host of arguments that defend the work of the industry as well as help to reset the pendulum that has swung much too far on the side of the COI movement. For those who care about the industry and who yearn to have hard data to refute the COI movement, and even for those who want a more balanced view of the issues facing medicine and industry, Pharmaphobia is a must read. * Forbes * Since 2005 Stossel has been actively opposing a conflict-of-interest movement centered on the working relationships among the medical products industry, universities, physicians, researchers, and the FDA. The movement considers any exchange of money or gratuities in any amount for any aspect of medical practice-even education-as suspicious. Stossel examines in detail the negative effects of this movement on medical innovation and, consequently, public health. The book is divided into four sections, each building on the previous one. The extent of Stossel's personal involvement is covered in the first section. The second section deals with the history of the movement, regulations, and the working relationships among the groups involved. In the third section, he explains why he considers the conflict-of-interest movement ill-founded. The fourth section focuses on the cost exacted in medical innovation and education. The pros and cons of each argument are carefully evaluated. The work is well written, comprehensive, and convincing, and the author's logical progression is easy to follow. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers. * CHOICE * Dr. Tom Stossel [wrote a] fascinating new book, Pharmaphobia: How the Conflict of Interest Myth Undermines American Medical Innovation. . . . The reader will be left with the distinct feeling that Stossel's 'in your face' attitude and fearless defense of his position is not mere blather, but, rather the dead honest view of a consummate professional who, over the course of a long and distinguished career, has participated research that has resulted in an impressive number of important medical innovations. I would not want to be on the other side of the table debating this subject against him. * Science 2.0 * Pharmaphobia: How the Conflict of Interest Myth Undermines American Medical Innovation is a very welcome defense of the biomedical and medical device industries against a relentless witch hunt based on a lot of supposition and very little evidence, thereby diverting countless hours and billions of dollars away from productive efforts to advance public health. Industry critics seem to believe that even the smallest financial consideration, e.g., a free pad of paper, overpowers even the largest noble objective, e.g., saving lives. The author does not claim there are no instances of misbehavior, only that the witch hunt has tragic consequences for public health. As an accomplished physician and medical researcher, he has seen first-hand the costs imposed by conflict-of-interest 'protections.' Ironically, many of the industries' holier-than-thou persecutors display far more bias and far less intellectual integrity than their victims.To make matters worse, many in industry and academia have drunk the conflict-of-interest Kool-Aid and accepted the presumed error of their ways. A good first step would be for the alleged perpetrators to read this book and realize they are among the victims. * Journal Of Clinical Research Best Practices * When it comes to medical academics, Tom Stossel has suffered the slings and arrows of the so-called healthcare elite -- and he's not going to take it anymore! Pharmaphobia is a blunt, honest, smart, frightening, and unvarnished look at why we need to stop thinking in terms of "good guys and bad guys" and start thinking about allies and partners. It's the only way to save American healthcare. -- Peter J. Pitts, Former FDA Associate Commissioner; President, Center for Medicine in the Public Interest A distinguished Harvard hematologist and basic researcher, Tom Stossel is passionately interested in ensuring that scientific progress is translated into tangible benefit for patients. Stossel's focus is on real-world impact; he is acutely aware of the many challenges associated with transforming a nascent idea into a clinical advance, and recognizes the pivotal role industry can play in catalyzing and driving this difficult process. In Pharmaphobia, Stossel embraces a nuanced and integrative vision that values both innovative science and market forces. Patients are fortunate to have a determined and relentless clinical champion like Tom Stossel in their corner. -- David A. Shaywitz, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Officer, DNAnexus, and Co-Founder and West Coast Innovation Lead, MGH/MIT Center for Assessment Technology and Continuous Health (CATCH) At last, someone willing to challenge the Zeitgeist. In Pharmaphobia, Tom Stossel shines an uncomfortable light on a world where transparency has morphed into bias. Stossel makes clear how America's obsession with hidden motives and imagined conspiracies has deprived us of the kind of advice and products that could save our lives. -- Paul A. Offit M.D., MD, professor of pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; author of Pandora's Lab: Seven Stories of Science Gone Wrong (National Geographic Press, 2017) At last, a scholarly treatise on excessive conflict-of-interest regulations that impede the interaction of academic scientists with companies that can turn their discoveries into therapeutic triumphs. This book is a must-read for all who believe that one day they will need a medicine or device to relieve their pain, or to forestall death. -- Michael Brown, M.D., Professor of Medicine and Director of the Jonsson Center for Molecular Genetics at UT Southwestern, Recipient of the 1985 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Only a skeptic who has spent a half-century inside the belly of the academic medicine beast would have the knowledge and experience to write this brilliant, take-no-prisoners expose of what Thomas Stossel dubs the "conflict-of-interest narrative." An insider has finally come out and told the tale of the conspiracy of government bureaucrats, medical poseurs, and their law-industry accomplices, that not only impedes medical research and innovation, but persecutes and prosecutes those who run afoul of regulations that make little scientific or sense. This book will prove to be a landmark in the counter-revolution that aims to improve both the medical and legal systems. -- Harvey Silverglate, criminal defense and civil liberties trial lawyer, and author of Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent (2009)

While plenty can be said about the dysfunction of our health care system, rarely do business and private players in health care innovation get a good rap. This book takes on skeptics of the partnership between the medical community, political groups, and private businesses, by illustrating how such cooperation can result in world-class innovation and health care delivery.