Pharmanomics

In Pharmanomics, investigative journalist Nick Dearden delves into the production of our medicines and uncovers that Big Pharma is failing us, with catastrophic consequences.

Big Pharma prioritises profit over health. This was evident when governments scrambled to produce vaccines during the Covid pandemic. Behind the much-publicised scientific breakthroughs, major companies discovered new ways to extract billions from Western governments while neglecting the Global South. However, this is just the latest incident in a prolonged history of financialising medicine—from Purdue's aggressive marketing of the highly addictive OxyContin to Martin Shkreli's price hike of a lifesaving drug and the 4.5 million South Africans unjustly deprived of HIV/AIDS medication.

Since the 1990s, Big Pharma has relentlessly protected its interests through the patent system. Consequently, the industry has shifted focus from researching new medicines to building monopolies. This approach has restructured our economy, veering away from invention and production to benefit financial markets. It has drastically reshaped the relationship between richer and poorer countries, with access to new medicines and permission to manufacture them being strictly controlled. In response, Dearden proposes a pathway towards a fairer, safer system for everyone.