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

by Michael Kinch, Lori Weiman, Mark Cuban (Contributor)(Foreword)

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

One in five Americans has skipped vital medicines simply because of the cost. The modern pharmaceutical industry is arguably the most highly regulated enterprise - and cost-inflated - in the United States, perhaps the world. But that was not always the case. 

How did we get into this nightmare? As a global pandemic rears its ugly head and we desperately work towards for a vaccine and mitigating treatments, this is perhaps the first time in history when questions about drug pricing are discussed openly and honestly.

'THE PRICE OF HEALTH' is the alarming story of how the pharmaceutical industry destroyed its reputation in a remarkably short period of time, betraying its own history. But, more hopefully, this is also the story of how we can still right the ship.

Kinch and Weiman reveal how medicines have been discovered, developed, distributed, and paid for throughout the years, providing new clarity on how these changes have contributed to rising costs.  Some of the individual activities and system reforms will be familiar, but the implications of these actions for the people consuming those medicines are surprising and at times shocking.

Like so much else in human history, the history of pharmaceuticals is comprised mostly of well-intended and even noble individuals. Each contributed to the formation of structures meant to improve the quality and quantity of life. And yet these systems originally created to do good have been manipulated in ways that have often been 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 future pandemics to come.



Running Time => 11hrs.

©2021 Michael Kinch and Lori Weiman (P)2021 Oasis Audio

Genres: Health

Audible Audio

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.