Blood Feud: The Man Who Blew the Whistle on One of the Deadliest Prescription Drugs Ever

by Kathleen Sharp Narrated by Coleen Marlo

Overview

Blood-boosting Procrit is Johnson & Johnson's biotech superstar. Behind its various brand names, it ranks as Medicare's most reimbursed drug. But Procrit performs frighteningly well, and can stimulate so many blood cells that thousands of patients die in unexplained and painful ways. And that's not all: Cancer patients, who often receive injections, are never warned that the drug stimulates tumor growth, too, prompting one leading hematologist to dub it "Miracle-Gro for cancer."



While patients have no clue about the risks behind this poorly tested drug, Johnson & Johnson sales rep Mark Duxbury knows precisely what is happening-the pharma behemoth is blatantly marketing overdoses of the drug. Duxbury tries to warn his superiors and is forced to testify in a secret court about illegal schemes. But his honesty costs him his career. Humiliated and ignored for years, Duxbury is ultimately betrayed in a shockingly cruel way. The psychological trauma drives him to attempt suicide, yet he fights on for several more years until the heartbreaking end. A Civil Action's Jan Schlichtmann has taken on the case, and is back in federal district court in Massachusetts.



And all the while, Johnson & Johnson has continued to push sales of Procrit.



Blood Feud is award-winning journalist Kathleen Sharp's nail-biting exposé of the Procrit case. Packed with corporate espionage, plot twists, and larger-than-life characters, it's as gripping as it is terrifyingly true.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"Sharp tells the story of sales rep Mark Duxbury, who challenged the wisdom of selling Procrit and, after testifying in a closed court, was hounded from his job." ---Library Journal

Library Journal

Sharp (In Good Faith) tells an engaging tale of intrigue, deceit, and pressure for profit in the American pharmaceutical industry. She traces the history of the drug Procrit, a once widely prescribed drug marketed to cancer, HIV, and dialysis patients and prescribed as a fatigue reliever. Two pharmaceutical companies, Amgen and Ortho (a division of Johnson and Johnson), owned the licensing rights to Procrit and each had purview over certain areas of the drug's use. Drawing on extensive interviews with an Ortho salesman, Sharp shows how the companies manipulated the FDA approval processes, enticed doctors, and pressed for ever wider uses for the drug. In so doing she paints a vivid picture of a pharmaceutical industry culture that values sales and revenues above all. VERDICT A page-turner, this alarming chronicle of profit seeking in American medicine will appeal to all who are invested in the health care they receive or the drugs they're prescribed. [See Prepub Alert, 3/21/11.]—A.W. Klink, Duke Univ., Durham, NC

MARCH 2012 - AudioFile

One minute Mark Duxbury was a hotshot sales rep, praised and honored by his employer, a pharmaceutical company. In a matter of a few years, his career spiraled downward as he turned into a whistle-blower. The author uses narrative to set up this story of the inherent problems in the sales structure of prescription drugs, specifically one used on cancer patients. Coleen Marlo clearly gets across Duxbury’s utter exasperation, an emotion that is needed continually throughout this story. Her voice for a man, while consistent, is simply a lowered tone. Still, it’s an amazing story to follow. Narrative writing requires painstaking reporting, which is found here. Both writer and narrator do a good job of making the topic clear and compelling. M.B. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171270377
Publisher:	Tantor Audio
Publication date:	09/20/2011
Edition description:	Unabridged

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