Katherine Eban

A dose of reality about generic drugs

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About Katherine Eban

Investigative journalist, Andrew Carnegie fellow, and Fortune magazine contributor Katherine Eban has reported on pharmaceutical counterfeiting, gun trafficking, and coercive interrogations by the CIA. Her work has won international acclaim and numerous awards. Her 2019 New York Times bestselling book, Bottle of Lies: The Inside Story of the Generic Drug Boom is based on a decade of reporting and reveals endemic fraud and alarming conditions in the overseas manufacturing plants where the majority of low-cost generic medicine is made. Katherine’s first book Dangerous Doses: a True Story of Cops, Counterfeiters and the Contamination of America’s Drug Supply was named one of the Best Books of 2005 by Kirkus Reviews.

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About This Talk

12 years ago, Investigative Journalist Katherine Eban received a phone call that would be the start of the investigation of a lifetime. Katherine walks us through the horrifying truths of generics, validated by over a decade of whistleblower interviews, on-the-ground reporting across four continents, and the tracking of confidential files from the FDA, generic drug companies, and courts. Katherine’s investigation reveals a world of for-profit substandard drugs that are passed off as legitimate generics through defiance of FDA regulation and fraud. Katherine is on a public health mission to save the health of patients around the world. She insists that solutions to the overseas generic drug manufacturing problems lie in the hands of the FDA.

Solutions, Katherine says, can begin with “rigorous oversight including unannounced inspections and systematic testing of drugs”. Watch Katherine’s Talk "A dose of reality about generic drugs" to learn more.


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