{"id":112529,"date":"2021-07-14T14:29:02","date_gmt":"2021-07-14T19:29:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=112529"},"modified":"2021-07-25T19:01:05","modified_gmt":"2021-07-26T00:01:05","slug":"former-department-head-of-pharmacy-releases-a-new-book-on-big-pharma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/former-department-head-of-pharmacy-releases-a-new-book-on-big-pharma\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Ole Miss Department Head of Pharmacy Releases a New Book on “Big Pharma”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In his new book, Government, Big Pharma, and the People: A Century of Dis-Ease<\/em><\/strong>, Dr. Mickey Smith<\/strong> tackles the historic, economic, and social impact of \u201cBig Pharma\u201d and its relationship to government. Dr. Smith spent thirty-seven years on faculty in the Pharmacy Department at the University of Mississippi<\/strong>. After completing his education in St. Louis<\/strong>, he came to Oxford in 1962 to attend graduate school. Other than a short stint with Swedish company Pharmacia<\/strong>, which is now a part of Pfizer<\/strong>, Smith has spent his entire career at Ole Miss<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been retired since 2003,\u201d Smith said. \u201cAfter my wife passed away, I went and looked around at the library there. I had been thinking about something like this [book] for quite a while.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spry, witty 82-year-old gentleman with a dashing moustache, Dr. Smith has written, co-written, or edited over twenty books in his lifetime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was joking with [a friend] that I have more books than Faulkner, but he has that Nobel Prize thing, you know.\u201d Smith laughed as he showed off his Faulkner t-shirt, a Father\u2019s Day gift from his daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Government, Big Pharma, and The People: A Century of Dis-Ease<\/u><\/p><\/a>\n\n\n\n<\/a>\n\n\n\n

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What can you tell us about your new book?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s basically a history book. It goes back to the early 1900s for the legal parts, the Food and Drug Act. Two parts are the most important. One is the way Congress has investigated the drug industry over the years. They\u2019re still doing it . . . the same old way, haven\u2019t changed one thing. They passed legislation in 1962 that created legend drugs, which are the drugs you can\u2019t get without a prescription. This was monumental at the time because it changed everything\u2014physician\u2019s habits, pharmacists habits, and so forth. The other aspect I focused on in this book is one of sociology. What do people know about drugs? What do they do about it? Why don\u2019t they take them right? If you think about it, it\u2019s kinda weird. People will go to the doctor, sit there for a couple of hours, then go to the pharmacy and wait a long time, go home and not take the drugs right. The implications are incredible. They don\u2019t get well, maybe. The doctor, typically, if you don\u2019t call him back and tell him it isn\u2019t working, he or she thinks it is. Also, if they don\u2019t get a refill, that impacts the drug industry. Because refills are pretty much the life blood of the industry. That was what I tried to do, focus on that, and then come back around to the drug industry and talk about \u201cgreedy big Pharma.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is that a myth or is it true?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They are greedy. But so are we all in one way or another. There have been some bad things that they\u2019ve done. But there have been some heroes in the drug industry. Do you know who invented Valium? Everyone\u2019s heard of Valium. But nobody knows who invented it. I happen to have in my den an autograph of Leo Sternbach, who invented it. I invited him down to campus one time for a lecture. Poor ol\u2019 Leo, he never gets any recognition. I asked him what was the best thing Roche did for him? He said they gave him a parking spot near the building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Smith\u2019s book is available on Amazon<\/span><\/strong><\/a>. He reckons it will be useful to students of pharmacy policy and marketing. From Amazon: \u201cPharmaceuticals constitute a relatively small share of the total Health Care expenditure in most developed economies, and yet they play a critical role in the ongoing debate over how best to advance, improve, and afford Health Care. Despite this, and perhaps because of this, the industry has had, for many years, an outsized claim to fame and controversy, praise and criticisms, and support and condemnation. Unfortunately, many participants in the debate do not fully understand the complexities of the industry and its role in the overall Health Care system. The author utilizes his 50-plus years\u2019 experience as an academic, practicing pharmacist, and Big Pharma employee to describe the scope of the pharmaceutical industry and how it affects us on a daily basis, concluding with an inside look at Big Pharma and how regulations, marketing, and the press have affected their business, both good and bad.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Smith is also involved in organizing a celebration for the University of Mississippi Pharmacy Department\u2019s upcoming sixtieth anniversary. He is an avid reader and enjoys smoking pipes and cigars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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