Generation Rx

A significant proportion of Generation Rx – perhaps too much of it – unfolds as a straightforward business story, in which we witness Big Pharma, at first tentatively and then with increasing euphoria, slough off its old fuddy-duddy ambiance and traditional restraints to embrace what the author calls a promotional “bacchanal,” today spending $12 billion a year, “between $8,000 and $15,000 annually per physician to sell its wares.” The direct payola that doctors receive from this scheme – from pens and notebooks to cash payments, trips and visits from sexy young sales reps dispensing back rubs, suggesting a “pharmaceutical lap dance” more than “an old-fashioned sales call” – puts the record industry to shame