9780525640868
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Wonder Drug audiobook

  • By: Jennifer Vanderbes
  • Narrator: Jennifer Vanderbes
  • Category: History, Medical
  • Length: 10 hours 10 minutes
  • Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
  • Publish date: January 01, 2023
  • Language: English
  • (26 ratings)
(26 ratings)
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Wonder Drug Audiobook Summary

“A shocking saga of pharmaceutical malpractice . . . Wonder Drug is both a first-rate medical thriller and the searing account of a forgotten American tragedy.”—Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Empire of Pain
 
A page-turning account of the most notorious drug of the twentieth century and the never-before-told story of its American survivors.

In 1959, a Cincinnati pharmaceutical firm, the William S. Merrell Company, quietly began distributing samples of an exciting new wonder drug already popular around the world. Touted as a sedative without risks, thalidomide was handed out freely, under the guise of clinical trials, by doctors who believed approval by the Food and Drug Administration was imminent. 

But in 1960, when the application for thalidomide landed on the desk of FDA medical reviewer Frances Kelsey, she quickly grew suspicious. When she learned that the drug was causing severe birth abnormalities abroad, she and a team of dedicated doctors, parents, and journalists fought tirelessly to block its authorization in the United States and stop its sale around the world.

Jennifer Vanderbes set out to write about this FDA success story only to discover a sinister truth that had been buried for decades: For more than five years, several American pharmaceutical firms had distributed unmarked thalidomide samples in shoddy clinical trials, reaching tens of thousands of unwitting patients, including hundreds of pregnant women. 

As Vanderbes examined government and corporate archives, probed court records, and interviewed hundreds of key players, she unearthed an even more stunning find: Scores of Americans had likely been harmed by the drug. Deceived by the pharmaceutical firms, betrayed by doctors, and ignored by the government, most of these Americans had spent their lives unaware that thalidomide had caused their birth defects. 
 
Now, for the first time, this shocking episode in American history is brought to light. Wonder Drug gives voice to the unrecognized victims of this epic scandal and exposes the deceptive practices of Big Pharma that continue to endanger lives today.

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Wonder Drug Audiobook Narrator

Jennifer Vanderbes is the narrator of Wonder Drug audiobook that was written by Jennifer Vanderbes

About the Author(s) of Wonder Drug

Jennifer Vanderbes is the author of Wonder Drug

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Wonder Drug Full Details

Narrator Jennifer Vanderbes
Length 10 hours 10 minutes
Author Jennifer Vanderbes
Category
Publisher Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
Release date April 28, 2024
ISBN 9780525640868

Subjects

The publisher of the Wonder Drug is Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group. includes the following subjects: science gifts for adults, history teacher gifts, science books, gifts for history buffs, wonder drug, drugs, public health, gifts for women, gifts for men, history buff gifts, nurse gifts, history lovers gifts, science, us history books, american history books, biography books, biography, women's studies, corruption, capitalism, corporate greed, Big pharma, corporations, pharmaceutical industry, birth defects, pharmaceuticals, FDA, medical history, medical, Kevadon, Thalidomide, history gifts, history books, history, medicine, Medical, History, Biography & Autobiography, Medical, Social Science, Women's Studies The BISAC Subject Code is History, Medical

Additional info

The publisher of the Wonder Drug is Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group. The imprint is Random House Audio. It is supplied by Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group. The ISBN-13 is 9780525640868.

Global Availability

This book is only available in the United States.

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