In the last few years several big pharmaceutical companies have paid huge fines (literally billions of $) for failing to disclose the potential dangers of some of their drugs. This time it’s J&J and their antipsychotic Risperidol. Last November it was GlaxoSmithKline’s diabetes drug Avandia. I remember how in 2007, Congressman Darryl Issa tried to intimidate the cardiologist whistleblower who reported the heart damage some of his patients had experienced after taking the pill. Issa asked the doctor if he knew how much his “accusations” had cost the stock price!

In the novel “Dead Air”, an unethical pharmaceutical company continues a vaccine study using students at my fictional university knowing it was literally killing the subjects. Just like these real pharma companies, the fictional Nitshi Corporation put profits before people. Several reviewers have called the book “eerily timely”. Frankly, I wish it was just a good thriller. Here’s today piece in the New York Times

—Sammy