The Merck Druggernaut: The Inside Story of a Pharmaceutical Giant
Author: Fran Hawthorne
List Price: $24.95
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ISBN: 0471228788
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons (28 February, 2003)
Sales Rank: 36,153
Average Customer Rating: 3.88 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 5 out of 5
THE MERCK DRUGGERNAUT
As a writer with a strong interest in the pharmaceutical industry, I found this book to be an an insightful account of Merck's evolution, it's journey to becoming a giant on the pharmaceutical landscape and its subsequent decline in prestige (and value) as patents to its profitable drugs expire and obstacles to new drug development become insurmountable.But "The Merck Druggernaut" is more than Merck's story. This book provides a riveting overview of the ills that afflict the entire industry and its growing estrangement from the needs of people, medicine and the complexities of healthcare insurance.
Fran Hawthorne's book is a must read for anyone interested in understanding how Merck fits into the overall picture of pharma's conflict between profit and corporate responsibility.
Alice Shane
Rating: 1 out of 5
What a disappointment
I was expecting the book to start off with the history of Merck and its founding, then slowly progress through to the current modern day challenges.The book was a slow read and gave very little insight about Merck,its people.
What I don't understand is why author spent so many pages detailing the modern day health government policy problems.
This was supposed to be a story about Merck.
Don't bother buying or even borrowing this book, it will leave you frustrated.
Rating: 3 out of 5
good writing, not exactly an "inside story"
This book suceeds in examining the pharmaceutical industry in general and it is a fairly balanced look at one company. Fran Hawthorn uses Merck as a standard to compare to other drug companies and even compares the present-day Merck unfavorably to the moral high ground Merck trod in the past. I think Merck employees were very careful about the information they provided, and there weren't really compelling stories about individual people within the company. The book made me wish Fran had written an expose instead of a dispassionate, although informative nonfiction piece. Similar Products
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