Date: 17 February 2021
For over a century the pharmaceutical industry has delivered amazing products. The stories of how these great medicines have been developed are often remarkable, and sometimes heroic. And yet the industry has rightly been criticised for underperforming, not just for a lack of innovation, but also in failing to make essential medicines available to those who need them at prices they can afford. Recent trends offer mixed signals in this regard. It’s time that we placed the industry under close examination.
In That High Design of Purest Gold, Graham Dutfield conducts such an investigation, tracing the development of the pharmaceutical industry from its emergence in the late nineteenth century to the present day. As such it is a work of history as much as of popular science. In parallel with the industry’s growth is the evolving regulatory system under which it operates. Accordingly, the book provides a diagnosis and ends with a prescription for a better industry whose activities align better with the public interest.
In this book launch symposium, jointly hosted by LSE Global Health Initiative and Queen Mary Intellectual Property Research Institute, Professor Dutfield will be accompanied by four commentators: Dr Paul Fehlner (Axcella Health, formerly of Novartis), Dr Burcu Kilic (Public Citizen), Professor Ken Shadlen (LSE), and Dr Siva Thambisetty (LSE). Professor Uma Suthersanen (Queen Mary) will Chair the event.