Pills, Power, People: Sociological Understandings of the Pharmaceutical Industry Export

@article{citeulike:1855449, abstract = {This article examines how sociology can contribute to an understanding of the work, power and impact of the pharmaceutical industry. Drawing in particular on Latour's theoretical and empirical analysis of science, in conjunction with a more explicit consideration of power, it examines the scientific fact making' involved in the clinical trials of drugs designed to assess their safety and effectiveness, assessments that are the basis for securing approval for their release onto the market. It also examines post-approval drug assessments and the fuller evaluation of a drug that emerges with time. It shows how the industry's control over this science, especially in the pre-approval stage, has helped to encourage extensive, and often excessive, use of pharmaceuticals. 10.1177/0038038506062034}, author = {Busfield, Joan}, citeulike-article-id = {1855449}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0038038506062034}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://soc.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/40/2/297}, day = {1}, doi = {10.1177/0038038506062034}, journal = {Sociology}, keywords = {history-medicine, pharma, science-studies, sociology}, month = {April}, number = {2}, pages = {297--314}, posted-at = {2008-11-18 01:22:30}, priority = {2}, title = {Pills, Power, People: Sociological Understandings of the Pharmaceutical Industry}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0038038506062034}, volume = {40}, year = {2006} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:1855449 L3 - citeulike-article-id:1855449 N2 - This article examines how sociology can contribute to an understanding of the work, power and impact of the pharmaceutical industry. Drawing in particular on Latour's theoretical and empirical analysis of science, in conjunction with a more explicit consideration of power, it examines the scientific fact making' involved in the clinical trials of drugs designed to assess their safety and effectiveness, assessments that are the basis for securing approval for their release onto the market. It also examines post-approval drug assessments and the fuller evaluation of a drug that emerges with time. It shows how the industry's control over this science, especially in the pre-approval stage, has helped to encourage extensive, and often excessive, use of pharmaceuticals. 10.1177/0038038506062034 IS - 2 JF - Sociology EP - 314 TI - Pills, Power, People: Sociological Understandings of the Pharmaceutical Industry VL - 40 SP - 297 KW - history-medicine KW - pharma KW - science-studies KW - sociology AU - Busfield, Joan PY - 2006/04/01/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0038038506062034 ER -