Prescription for the People: An Activists Guide to Making Medicine Affordable for All (The Culture and Politics of Health Care Work)

In Prescription for the People , Fran Quigley diagnoses our inability to get medicines to the people who need them and then prescribes the cure. He delivers a clear and convincing argument for a complete shift in the global and U.S. approach to developing and providing essential medicines—and a primer on how to make that change happen. Globally, 10 million people die each year because they are unable to pay for medicines that would save them. The cost of prescription drugs is bankrupting families and putting a strain on state and federal budgets. Patients’ desperate need for affordable medicines clashes with the core business model of the powerful pharmaceutical industry, which maximizes profits whenever possible. It doesn’t have to be this way. Patients and activists are aiming to make all essential medicines affordable by reclaiming medicines as a public good and a human right, instead of a profit-making commodity. In this book, Quigley demystifies statistics and terminology, offers solutions to the problems that block universal access to medicines, and provides a road map for activists wanting to make those solutions a reality. Cover 1 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 12 Introduction 18 Part I. Toxic Impacts 22 1. People Everywhere Are Struggling to Get the Medicines They Need 24 2. The United States Has a Drug Problem 30 3. Millions of People Are Dying Needlessly 36 4. Cancer Patients Face Particularly Deadly Barriers to Medicines 42 5. The Current Medicine System Neglects Many Major Diseases 48 Part II. Profits over Patients 52 6. Corporate Research and Development Investments Are Exaggerated 54 7. The Current System Wastes Billions on Drug Marketing 60 8. The Current System Compromises Physician Integrity and Leads to Unethical Corporate Behavior 64 9. Medicines Are Priced at Whatever the Market Will Bear 74 10. Pharmaceutical Corporations Reap History-Making Profits 82 Part III. Patently Poisonous 86 11. The For-Profit Medicine Arguments Are Patently False 88 12. Medicine Patents Are Extended Too Far and Too Wide 92 13. Patent Protectionism Stunts the Development of New Medicines 100 14. Governments, Not Private Corporations, Drive Medicine Innovation 104 15. Taxpayers and Patients Pay Twice for Patented Medicines 108 Part IV. Trading Away Our Health 112 16. Medicines Are a Public Good 114 17. Medicine Patents Are Artificial, Recent, and Government-Created 120 18. The United States and Big Pharma Play the Bully in Extending Patents 126 19. Pharma-Pushed Trade Agreements Steal the Power of Democratically Elected Governments 136 Part V. A Better Remedy 142 20. Current Law Provides Opportunities for Affordable Generic Medicines 144 21. There Is a Better Way to Develop Medicines 154 22. Human Rights Law Demands Access to Essential Medicines 164 Conclusion 170 Notes 190 Index 254 Acknowledgments Introduction Part I 1. People Everywhere Are Struggling to Get the Medicines They Need 2. The United States Has a Drug Problem 3. Millions of People Are Dying Needlessly 4. Cancer Patients Face Particularly Deadly Barriers to Medicines 5. The Current Medicine System Neglects Many Major Diseases Part II 6. Corporate Research and Development Investments Are Exaggerated 7. The Current System Wastes Billions on Drug Marketing 8. The Current System Compromises Physician Integrity and Leads to Unethical Corporate Behavior 9. Medicines Are Priced at Whatever the Market Will Bear 10. Pharmaceutical Corporations Reap History-Making Pro ts Part III 11. The For-Profit Medicine Arguments Are Patently False 12. Medicine Patents Are Extended Too Far and Too Wide 13. Patent Protectionism Stunts the Development of New Medicines 14. Governments, Not Private Corporations, Drive Medicine Innovation 15. Taxpayers and Patients Pay Twice for Patented Medicines Part IV 16. Medicines Are a Public Good 17. Medicine Patents Are Arti cial, Recent, and Government-Created 18. The United States and Big Pharma Play the Bully in Extending Patents 19. Pharma-Pushed Trade Agreements Steal the Power of Democratically Elected Governments Part V 20. Current Law Provides Opportunities for Affordable Generic Medicines 21. There Is a Better Way to Develop Medicines 22. Human Rights Law Demands Access to Essential Medicines Conclusion Notes Index "In Prescription for the People, Fran Quigley diagnoses our inability to get medicines to the people who need them and then prescribes the cure. He delivers a clear and convincing argument for a complete shift in the global and U.S. approach to developing and providing essential medicines, and a primer on how to make that change happen. Globally, 10 million people die each year because they are unable to pay for medicines that would save them. The cost of prescription drugs is bankrupting families and putting a strain on state and federal budgets. Patients' desperate need for affordable medicines clashes with the core business model of the powerful pharmaceutical industry, which maximizes profits whenever possible. It doesn't have to be this way. Patients and activists are aiming to make all essential medicines affordable by reclaiming medicines as a public good and a human right, instead of a profit-making commodity. In this book, Quigley demystifies statistics and terminology, offers solutions to the problems that block universal access to medicines, and provides a road map for activists wanting to make those solutions a reality."-- Résumé de l'éditeur Millions of people around the world face a real problem: their desperate need for affordable medicines clashes with the core business model of the powerful pharmaceutical industry. In response, patients and activists are aiming to make all essential medicines affordable by reclaiming medicines as a public good and a human right, instead of a profit-making commodity. Their challenge is made more daunting by the perceived complexity of the issues surrounding access to essential medicines. “The problem we have is that there are only a handful of people in the world who know what we are taking about,” one leading medicine activist admits. It doesn’t have to be this way. __A Prescription for Change__ diagnoses our medicines problem and prescribes the cure: it delivers a clear and convincing argument for a complete shift in the global and U.S. approach to developing and providing essential medicines—and a primer on how to make that change happen. "In Prescription for the People, Fran Quigley diagnoses our inability to get medicines to the people who need them and then prescribes the cure. He delivers a clear and convincing argument for a complete shift in the global and U. S. approach to developing and providing argument for a complete shift in the global and U.S. approach to developing and providing essential medicines -- and a primer on how to make that change happen." --