Ana Maria Mihalcea, MD, PhD Aug 26, 2024 READ

In the foreword by Richard Smith we read: Goetzsche quotes a former vice-president of Pfizer, who has said:

It is scary how many similarities there are between this industry and the mob. The mob makes obscene amounts of money, as does this industry. The side effects of organized crime are killings and deaths, and the side effects are the same in this industry. The mob bribes politicians and others, and so does the drug industry …

Many people are killed by the industry, many more than are killed by the mob.

Indeed, hundreds of thousands are killed every year by prescription drugs. Many will see this as almost inevitable because the drugs are being used to treat diseases that themselves kill. But a counter-argument is that the benefits of drugs are exaggerated, often because of serious distortions of the evidence behind the drugs, a ‘crime’ that can be attributed confidently to the industry.

Dr Goetzsche talks about the slogan “ safe and effective” – the most deceptive statement of the industry:

Organized crime, the business model of big pharma

Drug companies never talk about the benefits and harms of their drugs but about their efficacy and safety. Words create what they describe and the preferred semantics is seductive. It makes you think it can only be good for you to take drugs, as they are both efficacious and safe. Another reason why patients and doctors generally trust their drugs as being both efficacious and safe is that they think they have been carefully tested by the drug industry and carefully scrutinized by the drug regulatory agencies using high standards before they are allowed onto the market.