Global Pharmaceuticals: Ethics, Markets, Practices

[Extract] This volume of nine essays about the ‘pharmaceutical nexus’ is an interesting and valuable (if somewhat uneven and partisan) collection, united as each essay is under the shadow of their common bete noir– the patented pharmaceutical industry. The essays provide an anthropological (and to a lesser extent sociological) view of global pharmaceutical markets and the social relations and practices in which these markets are embedded. The intent is to open up for view the interests and stakes at work in the global expansion of pharmaceutical trade, the emergent ‘institutional ecology’ that attends it, and its varying territorial expressions. The volume is presumably aimed at a broad audience and for many readers an anthropological perspective of the moral and ethical realities of global drug markets should provide a greater understanding of patterns of drug development, availability and access. However, the frequent reference to theory and theorists (often necessary) and the frequent resort to anthropological jargon (often less so) means that understanding will require some perseverance among those readers unfamiliar with the discipline.