PHA-Exchange> Outsourcing of clinical trials (2)

[Claudio]

From: Katz, Alison 


Subject: Bad boys not just big pharma but senior government officials

In relation to your call for first hand accounts of experience of outsourcing of clinicalal trials to poor countries, it is important to seek such information ALSO from those who have worked with government aid agencies and senior civil servants.

Newspaper reviews of "The Constant Gardener" - a book/film which has provided a valuable public service in revealing these horrific practices - the role of British officials was very much overshadowed by the role of the pharmaceutical industry.

Almost all the reviews seemed to capture only the message that Big Pharma are the bad guys.

But Le Carré's book (and the film of it) actually does a fantastic job of revealing the complicity of government officials and senior civil servants, on behalf of British companies, without which these practices would be impossible.

It is the same point really that is made in relation to the weakening or "demise" of the state. The state is in excellent shape - it is just in the hands of the corporations. 

What is not in good shape is state public services in all senses of the term, including as a regulator and guarantor of fair and honest relations with other (often very poor) countries.   


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