Episode · Freakonomics Radio · 2016-12-08
Books mentioned on 269. Bad Medicine, Part 2: (Drug) Trials and Tribulations
How do so many ineffective and even dangerous drugs make it to market? One reason is that clinical trials are often run on "dream patients" who aren't representative of a larger population.
Stephen Dubner discussed Bad Pharma by Ben Goldacre.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Bad Pharma
Bad Pharma by Ben Goldacre is an investigative critique of the pharmaceutical industry, exposing how clinical trial data is manipulated and adverse effects are hidden from the public.
Discussed“One of Goldacre's books is called Bad Pharma. He echoes what Vinay Prasad was telling us about the people who were chosen for clinical trials.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (1) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Passing Bad Pharma
“Ben Goldacre, the gadfly physician who knows so much about bad pharma and bad medicine, acknowledges that the entire system is due for reform.”