New Le Carre Novel Paints Drug Industry in False Light, Op-Ed Says

While author John Le Carre has painted the drug industry as the "villain" -- "replete with 'corporate criminals'" -- in his new novel, "The Constant Gardner," Competitive Enterprise Institute fellow Dr. Roger Bate argues in a Washington Times opinion piece that Le Carre has no evidence to back his "serious allegations" of "criminal activity" and may face "trouble" from the industry's libel lawyers. He also accuses Le Carre of using "controversial 'factual' writing" to stir controversy and "drum up" sales for the novel. According to Le Carre, Bate writes, pharmaceutical firms only donate medicines to the poor for tax breaks and because the drugs have reached their expiration date, "abuse" patent protections to "arbitrarily overprice" drugs for developing nations, and "suppress" or rewrite "inconvenient" scientific findings. Bate calls the claims "fascinating" but points out that Le Carre has no substantiation for his "scaremongering." In addition, he argues that Le Carre, by using "literary license to exaggerate" the message of "pharma-watch pressure groups," may risk "discrediting them altogether." Bate concludes that despite Le Carre's arguments, "[D]rug companies are not in the business of testing drugs they know don't work, or of avoiding testing regulations because they want to harm the poor. ... The time taken to bring a new drug to market is the real scandal, and the one Mr. Le Carre should write about" (Bate, Washington Times, 1/10).