In the warped world of prescription drug pricing, generic drugs can cost more than branded ones, old drugs can be relaunched at astronomical prices, and low-cost options are shut out of the market. In Drugs, Money and Secret Handshakes, Robin Feldman shines a light into the dark corners of the pharmaceutical industry to expose a web of shadowy deals in which higher-priced drugs receive favorable treatment and patients are channeled toward the most expensive medicines. At the center of this web are the highly secretive middle players who establish coverage levels for patients and negotiate with drug companies. By offering lucrative payments to these middle players (as well as to doctors and hospitals), drug companies ensure that inexpensive drugs never gain traction. This system of perverse incentives has delivered the kind of exorbitant drug prices - and profits - that everyone loves except for those who pay the bills.

Examines the pharmaceutical industry to expose how higher-priced drugs receive favorable treatment and patients are channeled toward the most expensive medicines.

While the shockingly high prices of prescription drugs continue to dominate the news, the strategies used by pharmaceutical companies to prevent generic competition are poorly understood, even by the lawmakers responsible for regulating them. In this groundbreaking work, Robin Feldman and Evan Frondorf illuminate the inner workings of the pharmaceutical market and show how drug companies twist health policy to achieve goals contrary to the public interest. In highly engaging prose, they offer specific examples of how generic competition has been stifled for years, with costs climbing into the billions and everyday consumers paying the price. Drug Wars is a guide to the current landscape, a roadmap for reform, and a warning of what is to come. It should be read by policymakers, academics, patients, and anyone else concerned with the soaring costs of prescription drugs.

Présentation de l'éditeur: "This work offers a new theory of what it means to be a legal person and suggests that it is best understood as a cluster property. The book explores the origins of legal personhood, the issues afflicting a traditional understanding of the concept, and the numerous debates surrounding the topic."

"What if the way we understand our world is wrong? What if it isn't politicians and events that shape our lives, but secret deals made by people you've never heard of? This book tells the story of the secret deals that are changing the world, and revolutionizing everything we do, including money, the food we eat, what we buy, and the drugs we take to stay well. These deals never make the news: they are made high up in boardrooms, on golf courses, and in luxury cars: each sealed by world-changing handshakes. This is the story of those handshakes."--Publisher's description.

Alexandra Robbins wanted to find out if the stereotypes about sorority girls were actually true, so she spent a year with a group of girls in a typical sorority. The sordid behavior of sorority girls exceeded her worst expectations -- drugs, psychological abuse, extreme promiscuity, racism, violence, and rampant eating disorders are just a few of the problems. But even more surprising was the fact that these abuses were inflicted and endured by intelligent, successful, and attractive women. Why is the desire to belong to a sorority so powerful that women are willing to engage in this type of behavior -- especially when the women involved are supposed to be considered 'sisters'? What definition of sisterhood do many women embrace? Pledged combines a sharp-eyed narrative with extensive reporting and the fly-on-the-wall voyeurism of reality shows to provide the answer.

This book explores the fundamental and inextricable relationship between regulation, intellectual property, competition law, and public health in pharmaceutical markets, examining their interconnections and the delicate balance between the various interests and policy goals at stake. Although pharmaceutical markets are heavily regulated and subject to close antitrust scrutiny, there is a constant requirement for existing rules and policies to tackle a number of persistent, complex issues. The variety of anti-competitive practices occurring in this sector, the worrying rise in drug prices, and major, far-reaching concerns over the accessibility of medicines are sources of frequent controversy in academic and policy debates. Understanding the unique features and dynamics of the pharmaceutical industry requires a tailored and multifaceted approach. The study is enhanced by the adoption of a comparative perspective, tracing convergence and divergence between EU and US systems through the analysis of relevant applicable rules, significant cases, and policy choices. Pursuant to this rigorous approach, the book provides an original and thought-provoking critique of the challenges of regulating pharmaceutical markets.