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.
Subject
Sociology and Political Science
Cited by
69 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献