Prescription for the People: An Activist’s Guide to Making Medicine Affordable for All

by Fran Quigley

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.

Genres: Health

260 pages, Paperback

Published November 15, 2017

Reviews

[Always Pouting · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was actually really good. The book does a really good job outlining arguments against our current system and providing solutions as well as clear actions everyone can take. It was really well organized and structured so that one could just read the parts they thought most relevant. I also think it was really accessible and broke down a lot of information in a way that made them easy to understand, and explained a lot of terms that I would probably have had to look up. Would definitely recommend this to someone interested in access to medication and the prices of drugs, especially people interested in learning more about solutions and what they can do individually.

[Nick Goodale · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a phenomenal, detailed look at pharmaceutical history, mainly focused on the United States. It covers the actions pharmaceutical companies take to make as much money as possible from life-saving drugs, as well as what they do to protect their patents on these drugs.

The author excels at tying together dry, complicated health history with human stories, consistently striking at the fact that greed kills people all around the world. He references past chapters to reiterate certain points, or to point the reader in the direction of a refresher if needed. It makes the book much easier to read considering the material it covers.

To tie everything together, Fran Quigley references victories in drug reform, as well as listing the many activist groups out there for anyone interested.

For someone new to a lot of this material, I very much enjoyed the care he took in writing this book, and the assistance given to the reader with the material covered. Fantastic book.