Bottle of Lies : Ranbaxy and the Dark Side of Indian Pharma by Katherine EbanMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
After a long time I read a book that was captivating and enthralling right till the end. Katherine Eban has done full justice to her years of painstaking research on the pharma industry. This book has brought to light the various malpractices the pharma industry indulges in to pass the muster in FDA books and the key to US markets. The book highlights the lax drug controls in developing countries like India and China to manufacture generic versions of branded expensive drugs. It has detailed how Ranbaxy flouted good manufacturing practices and permeated a system of corruption and record manipulation in their company. It took a whistleblower like Dinesh Thakur to bring out the malpractices to the attention of FDA. To compound his problems, including living in constant fear for his family, the FDA also took its own time (around eight years) to finally take action against Ranbaxy. This was only because of a few officials' dogged persistence to pursue justice. The FDA is also not spared with questionable practices, high pressure lobbying by the US govt in cahoots with the drug industry and corrupt officials walking its corridors.
This book brings out the fact that poor, inferior quality drugs are pushed to African, Eastern European and South American countries where the drug controls are lax and corruption is more widespread. Kudos to the author, this book definitely is an eye-opener and a mindblowing read.
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