First published 2021
Gerald Posner investigates the pharmaceutical industry's transformation from medical miracle worker to profit-driven machine. The New York Times bestselling journalist traces how companies that once delivered antibiotics and vaccines now prioritize earnings over patient welfare. Posner focuses on the Sackler family, who built vast wealth through OxyContin while fueling America's opioid crisis. Using government archives, corporate documents, classified FBI files, and insider interviews, he reveals how the Sacklers hid their empire behind shell companies with shifting names and concealed ownership. The investigation exposes an industry with addiction embedded in its foundation, from nineteenth-century drugstores selling morphine and cocaine to today's overprescribed painkillers. Posner presents the conflicts between brilliant researchers, ethical regulators, and courageous whistleblowers against executives blinded by greed. The book demonstrates how businesses profiting from illness can generate deadlier problems than they solve, offering readers an inside look at the intersection where public health meets corporate profits.
Genres: business, politics, non-fiction, health, history-of-medicine, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigative-journalism, whistleblower
Setting: America, United States
Period: 19th-century, 20th-century, 21st-century
816 pages · Paperback · Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
Content warnings: addiction, drug-use, substance-abuse