The cost of medicines, especially life-saving drugs, has been reaching new heights every year.
Some governments, especially India’s, have responded to this crisis by allowing local manufacturers to make cheaper generic drugs. But while generics have improved the less fortunate’s access to better health, their industry has a dark side. In her book Bottle of Lies, Katherine Eban describes how the demand for cheaper drugs plus lax government regulation has allowed manufacturers to aggressively cut corners, get away with large-scale corruption, forgery and fraud. Their actions compromise the lives of the people that consume their drugs, while drug regulators struggle to catch up with manufacturers’ unethical tactics.