Ben Goldacre: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors & Harm Patients

Ben Goldacre’s earlier bestseller Bad Science hilariously exposed the tricks that quacks and journalists use to distort science; now Goldacre puts the multibillion-dollar global pharmaceutical industry under the microscope—and reveals a terrifying mess. Doctors and patients need good scientific evidence to make informed decisions, says the author of Bad Pharma, but instead, companies run bad trials on their own drugs, which distort and exaggerate the benefits. When these trials produce unflattering results, the data are simply buried—and all of this is perfectly legal. It’s a world so fractured, Goldacre says, that medics and nurses are educated by the drug industry—and patients are harmed. Presented as part of the Health thread of the Town Hall Civics series with University Book Store. Series supported by The Boeing Company, the RealNetworks Foundation, and the True/Brown Foundation.
Tickets are $5 at www.townhallseattle.org or 888/377-4510 and at the door beginning at 6:30 pm. Town Hall members receive priority seating. Downstairs at Town Hall; enter on Seneca Street.
LEARN MORE:
http://bit.ly/THGoldacre
Goldacre’s TED talk on Battling Bad Science: http://bit.ly/THGoldacreTED