The Price of Health: The Modern Pharmaceutical Enterprise and the Betrayal of a History of Care

by Michael Kinch

From "pharma bros" to everday household budgets, just how did the pharmaceutical industry betray its own history—and how can it return to its tradition of care?

It’s an unfortunate and life-threatening one in five Americans has skipped vital prescriptions simply because of the cost. These choices are being made even though we have reached a point in the conveyance of medical options where cancers can be cured and sight restored for those blinded by rare genetic disorders. How, in this time of such advancements, did we reach a point, where people cannot afford the very things that could save their lives?

As the COVID-19 global pandemic has pointed out, we need the leadership of scientists, researchers, public health officials and lawmakers alike to guide us through not only in times of a global health crisis, but also during far more mundane times. For the first time in decades, people from all walks of life face the same need for medicine. It is time to discuss the tough questions about drug pricing in an open, honest and, hopefully, transparent manner.

But first we must understand how we, as a society, got here. Medicines are arguably the most highly regulated—and cost-inflated—products in the United States. The discovery, development, manufacturing and distribution of medicines is carried out by an ever more complex and crowded set of industries, each playing a part in a larger “pharmaceutical enterprise” seeking to maximize profits. But this was not always the case.

The Price of Health is the reveals the story of how the pharmaceutical enterprise took shape and led to the present crisis. The reputation of the pharmaceutical industry is suffering from self-inflicted wounds and its continued viability, indeed survival, is increasingly questioned. Yet the drug makers do not shoulder all the blame or responsibility for the current price crisis. Deeply researched, The Price of Health gives us hope as to how we can still right the ship, even amidst the roiling storm of a global pandemic.

How have medicines have been made and distributed to consumers throughout the years? What sea of changes that have contributed to rising costs? Some individuals, actions, and systems will be familiar, others may surprise. Yet the combined implications of these actions for will be surprising and at times shocking to both industry professionals and average Americans alike.

Like so much else in human history, the history of the pharmaceutical enterprise is populated mostly by well-intended and even noble individuals and organizations. Each contributed to the formation or maintenance of structures meant to improve the quality and quantity of life through the development and distribution of medicines. And yet systems originally created to do good have often been subverted in ways contrary to the motivations of their creators. Only by understanding this disconnect can we better tackle the underlying problems of the industry head on, preventing foreseeable, and thus avoidable, medical calamities to come.

Genres: Health

336 pages, Hardcover

First published April 6, 2021

Reviews

[Tiffani Valentin · Rating 3 out of 5]

i picked this book up bc i wanted to learn more about this topic and the topic definitely proved to be interesting, but the writing style and language were a bit complicated in my opinion. certain concepts were jumbled all over the place and others were a bit difficult to understand and probably could have been explained in much simpler terms. overall, i definitely learned a lot about the pharmaceutical industry and the authors definitely seemed knowledgable on the topic

[Jaipal · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting read if you want to understand about the pharmaceutical industry in the United States over the last 200 years. It explains how regulations meant to keep consumers safe are leading to higher costs for pharmaceutical companies as well as how some companies are using these costs to justify their high prices.

Furthermore, pharmaceutical companies have disbanded their research teams or laboratories to save costs, which leads to higher costs by hiring consulting researchers.

This book is a fascinating read to understand how regulation and business practices lead to the current situation of high prices. I would recommend it for anyone wanting to know about why medicine prices are high in the United States.

[Johanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting read. Answered some questions about how the pharmaceutical industry works and why pricing can be so high. There are a lot of statistics and technical terms that were a challenge to follow. The book mentions that part of the goal of the book is to present facts and let the reader decide the meaning. I like that approach, but as someone not well versed in the medical or pharmaceutical industry, there were parts I wasn't able to fully grasp. Good read. I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in the topic or hoping for change in the industry.

[Christina Nunyas · Rating 3 out of 5]

The subject matter is a 5, but the writing was painful - the was way too much repetition, numerous references to things in the author's other books, and grammatical typos that made it hard to read. I love a book deep with endnotes, but surprisingly this seemed a bit light considering the subject matter. If the topic interests you - it has some good stuff in it if you can get past the poor editing and overly repetitious writing style.

[Jayne Korolkoff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Timely and the informative review of the high cost of drugs and what got us to this bad place. The book is well written and easy to follow. Lots of historical perspective on how the industry has evolved. The authors emphasize the hurdles faced by the industry and provide concrete solutions that should be on the radar of Congress’ legislative agenda. Must read!

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you want to understand all the pieces and parts of pharmaceutical companies… and in the process, learn all the twisted incentives that drive drug prices higher and higher, this book is for you. Sometimes too in the weeds, but tries to fairly hear out its subject and give all relevant information. I learned a lot.

[ND · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative on the Pharma industry. Gives a good history on its progression and fleshes out the big ideas on why costs are so expensive.

I did feel to a certain extent the authors were a bit biased in somewhere areas... but overall it is a good introductory.