Editing Gerald Posner (section)

=== ''PHARMA'' ===
Posner's history of the American pharmaceutical industry was published by Simon & Schuster imprint Avid Reader Press for March 10, 2020.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Pharma/Gerald-Posner/9781501151897 |title=PHARMA: Greed, Lies and the Poisoning of America at Simon & Schuster|date=March 10, 2020|isbn=9781501151897|last1=Posner|first1=Gerald|publisher=Simon and Schuster }}</ref> ''Kirkus'' said that the book is "A shocking, rousing condemnation of an industry clearly in need of better policing."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/gerald-posner/pharma/|title=Kirkus Review of PHARMA}}</ref> ''Literary Hub'' selected ''PHARMA'' as one of the "most anticipated books of 2020," and in a review, author [[John Freeman (author)|John Freeman]] stated: "The cat’s out of the bag on this one, we all know pharma has been a disaster for many Americans, but Gerald Posner specializes in telling you what you don’t know: in his ''New York Times'' bestsellers like ''Case Closed'' and books like ''Hitler’s Children'' or ''God’s Bankers'', what he has perfected is achieving the kind of disgust only a massive research dive can bring.... Posner has created a medical leviathan for our times."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://lithub.com/lit-hubs-most-anticipated-books-of-2020/3/ | title=Literary Hub review of PHARMA| date=January 14, 2020}}</ref> [[Beth Macy]], author of Dopesick, says that "I could not put down Gerald Posner’s ''Pharma'', the definitive story of how one family, the Sacklers, set out to get exquisitely rich on the back of unsuspecting Americans—then blamed the so-called 'abusers' instead of their own highly addictive drug."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Pharma/Gerald-Posner/9781501151897 | title=Advance Praise for PHARMA at Simon and Schuster| date=March 10, 2020| isbn=9781501151897| last1=Posner| first1=Gerald| publisher=Simon and Schuster}}</ref>

Natasha Singer in ''The New York Times Book Review'' said the book was “A withering and encyclopedic indictment of a drug industry that often seems to prioritize profits over patients…[PHARMA] reads like a pharmaceutical version of cops and robbers."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/12/books/pharma-gerald-posner.html | title=New York Times Book Review of PHARMA| newspaper=The New York Times| date=March 12, 2020| last1=Singer| first1=Natasha}}</ref> ''The New York Times Book Review'' also selected ''Pharma'' as one of "11 Editor's Weekly Choices," calling referring to the book as a "major work"<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/23/books/review/11-new-books-to-read-this-week.html | title=April 26, 2020 "11 New Books We Recommend This Week"| newspaper=The New York Times| date=April 23, 2020}}</ref>

''PHARMA'' included extensive coverage of the opioid epidemic and the [[Sackler family]]. In [[Stat (website)|STAT News]], Posner listed some of his new findings about the Sackler family.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Posner |first=Gerald |date=2020-03-10 |title=I thought I understood the Sacklers' opioid empire. Startling documents I found showed I was wrong |url=https://www.statnews.com/2020/03/10/startling-documents-reveal-new-facets-sackler-opioid-empire/ |access-date=2024-08-02 |website=STAT |language=en-US}}</ref> In ''[[WIRED]]'',<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Posner |first=Gerald |title=The Mom Who Took on Purdue Pharma for Its OxyContin Marketing |url=https://www.wired.com/story/mom-who-took-purdue-pharma-oxycontin-marketing/ |access-date=2024-08-02 |magazine=Wired |language=en-US |issn=1059-1028}}</ref> Posner wrote about Marianne Skolek, who became an activist against [[Purdue Pharma]] and its narcotic painkiller, [[OxyContin]], after her daughter died of an overdose.

''PHARMA'' was published the day before the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. A week before publication, Posner wrote an opinion piece in ''The New York Times'', [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/02/opinion/contributors/pharma-vaccines.html "Big Pharma May Pose an Obstacle to Vaccine Development."] He called COVID-19 "the ultimate test case for whether drug firms might at last become full partners in a public-private partnership."

Posner's penultimate chapter is titled "The Coming Pandemic". Biochemist [[Karen Bush]] told Posner in a 2016 interview that when it comes to the next pandemic, “It is not a question of if, it is a question of when.” ''The Dallas Morning News'' wrote that while "[https://www.dallasnews.com/arts-entertainment/books/2020/03/10/long-before-coronavirus-gerald-posner-began-writing-pharma-which-warns-of-the-coming-pandemic/ Long before coronavirus, Gerald Posner began writing ‘Pharma,’ which warns of ‘The Coming Pandemic.’] In [[Literary Hub]], Posner wrote [https://lithub.com/on-the-near-impossibility-of-planning-for-a-viral-pandemic/ "On the Near Impossibility of Planning for a Viral Pandemic."]

The [[Society of American Business Editors and Writers]] selected 'PHARMA' as a [https://www.investopedia.com/sabew-picks-the-best-business-book-of-2020-5088197 finalist for the Best Business Book of 2020]

The [[Florida Book Award]] selected 'PHARMA' for its Gold Medal award for the [https://news.fsu.edu/news/2021/04/19/2020-florida-book-awards-winners-announced/ Best General Nonfiction Book of 2020].

Posner relied on his reporting from 'PHARMA' to write a series of opinion pieces in national publications about either shortcomings in the drug industry or about the concerns that the Sackler family might not be held accountable for their role in the marketing of Oxycontin in their privately-owned drug company, [[Purdue Pharma]]. [https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-05-17/sacklers-opioid-epidemic-bankruptcy In the '' Los Angeles Times'' he argued for the appointment of an independent examiner] in the bankruptcy of Purdue Pharma so that the case would not leave "unanswered the many troubling questions about the full extent of the [Sackler] family’s role in igniting and fanning the opioid epidemic for its own profit."  Posner subsequently co-wrote two opinion pieces about the Sacklers in ''The New York Times.'' In July 2020, he joined with bankruptcy law professor Ralph Brubaker in a piece titled [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/22/opinion/sacklers-opioid-epidemic.html "The Sacklers Could Get Away With It."] Posner wrote "At stake is whether there will ever be a fair assessment of responsibility for America’s deadly prescription drug epidemic." In December, Posner teamed with another bankruptcy law professor, Jonathan C. Lipson, in a ''New York Times'' opinion piece titled [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/05/opinion/sackler-purdue-pharma-doj.html "The Sacklers’ Last Poison Pill."]

Besides the Sacklers and Purdue Pharma, Posner joined Margarida Jorge, the campaign director for Lower Drug Prices Now, [https://www.newsweek.com/pharma-insiders-are-raking-money-despite-no-guaranteed-covid-19-vaccine-opinion-1531996 in a ''Newsweek'' opinion piece] that criticized pharmaceutical executives for profiting from rumors and press releases about COVID-19 vaccines and treatments. And in February 2021, Posner wrote in ''[[USA Today]]'' asking President Biden not to make [[Janet Woodcock]] the permanent director of the [[Food and Drug Administration]]. Posner wrote that "The Biden administration should avoid rewarding any government official who contributed to the opioid crisis having become the most lethal prescription drug epidemic in American history."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Posner |first1=Gerald |title=FDA's Janet Woodcock failed to stop the opioid epidemic |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2021/02/03/janet-woodcocks-failure-fda-opioid-epidemic-column/4352787001/ |access-date=17 May 2023 |work=[[USA Today]] |date=2021-02-03}}</ref>

Posner also helped break the story of the role [[McKinsey & Company]] had in advising Purdue Pharma how to energize its flagging OxyContin sales.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cJ0O1idRg8 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/9cJ0O1idRg8 |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=How McKinsey helped Purdue Pharma sell OxyContin |website=[[YouTube]] |date=December 2020 }}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt8eA-X-Q4M&t=421s |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/bt8eA-X-Q4M |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=Gerald Posner on How Opioid Billionaire Sacklers Skirt Accountability |website=[[YouTube]] |date=December 20, 2020 }}{{cbignore}}</ref>

[[Tucker Carlson]], when interviewing Posner about his reporting that the Sacklers might evade justice for their role in the [[opioid epidemic]], said [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2MVFKwxpQQ "Gerald Posner may be the best known and most thorough investigative reporter in this country."]