Power, Politics and Pharmaceuticals: Drug Regulation in Ireland in the Global Context

by Orla O'Donovan

Overview

Public concerns about the regulation of the pharmaceutical industry have intensified in recent years. Paradoxically, these concerns center on the over-consumption of medicines of dubious benefit in Western societies and lack of access to essential medicines in the Global South.



By demonstrating how the analysis of pharmaceutical drug regulation can provide rich insights into the operation of power and politics in contemporary society, the contributors challenge the prevailing construction of drug regulation as a sphere of "policy without politics" and suggest alternative ways of regulating medicines.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781859184196
Publisher:	Cork University Press
Publication date:	02/28/2008
Pages:	270
Product dimensions:	6.25(w) x 9.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

Orla O'Donovan is a Lecturer in the Department of Applied Social Studies at University College Cork.

Kathy Glavanis-Grantham is Lecturer in Sociology at University College Cork.

Table of Contents

Acronyms; Introduction—Orla O’Donovan; PART ONE GLOBALISATION, POWER AND THE POLITICS OF SCIENCE: 1) Globalisation and Pharmaceuticals: Where is the Power? Where to Resist?—Denis O’Hearn and Stephen McClosky; 2) The Pharmaceutical Industry and the World Trade Organisation’s TRIPS Agreement: Intellectual Property, Global Governance and Health—Gerard Downs; 3) Bias and Science in Knowledge Production: Implications for the Politics of Drug Regulation—John Abraham; PART TWO MEDICINES REGULATION IN IRELAND: HEALTH AND DEMOCRACY AT RISK? 4) The Emergence of Pharmaceutical Industry Regulation for Competition (aka Profit) in Ireland—Orla O’Donovan; 5) Alliance for Progress or Unholy Alliance? The Transnational Pharmaceutical Industry, the State and the University of Ireland—Kathy Glavanis-Grantham; 6) Drug Expenditure in Ireland: Explaining Recent Trends—Michael Barry, Lesley Tilson and Máirín Ryan; 7) The Medical Profession and the Pharmaceutical Industry: Entwined, Entangled and Ensnared?—Colin Bradley; 8) The Dominance of Drug-Based Mental Health Care in Ireland: A Personal Account of a General Practitioner Turned Psychotherapist—Terry Lynch; PART THREE CONTROVERSY AND CHANE: MEDICINES REGULATION IN CANADA, BRITAIN AND AUSTRALIA: 9) new Directions in Canadian Drug Regulation: Whose Interests are Being Served?—Joel Lexchin; 10) Turbulence in UK Medicines Regulation: A Stink About SSRI Antidepressants That Isn’t Going Away—Andrew Herxheimer; 11) Is Australia’s national Medicines Policy Failing? The Case of COX-2 Inhibitors—Agnes Vitry, Joel Lexchin and Peter R. Mansfield; Glossary, Notes on Contributors; Notes and References; Bibliography; Index.