Book Review: Profits Before People?: Ethical Standards And the Marketing of Prescription Drugs

January 16, 2008

The author alludes to an increasingly critical climate in which big pharmaceuticals market their products to medical practitioners and to the public. Weber says most Americans are persuaded that profits, not the health and welfare of people, is the prime concern of prescription-drug manufacturers. The case for this is more assumed than demonstrated, held as part of our common experience. The ethical focus of the book is meant to answer the following general questions: What are the harms, and what can be done to mitigate the harms of commercial marketing of prescription drugs? (Metapsychology)