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Institutional Corruption of Pharmaceuticals and the Myth of Safe and Effective Drugs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Extract

Institutional corruption is a normative concept of growing importance that embodies the systemic dependencies and informal practices that distort an institution’s societal mission. An extensive range of studies and lawsuits already documents strategies by which pharmaceutical companies hide, ignore, or misrepresent evidence about new drugs; distort the medical literature; and misrepresent products to prescribing physicians. We focus on the consequences for patients: millions of adverse reactions. After defining institutional corruption, we focus on evidence that it lies behind the epidemic of harms and the paucity of benefits.

Type
Symposium
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2013

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