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Book Review: A Bottle of Lies

The Book ‘Bottle of Lies’ is written by Katherine Eban, who is an investigative journalist and author.

The Book covers the rise and fall of Ranbaxy and the dark side of Indian pharma

I found the Book to be a very disturbing and distressing read.

I was shocked to know that nearly all Indian generic pharma cos (Ranbaxy, Sun, DrReddy, Cipla, Glenmark etc) were under the USFDA lens for falsifying data, tests, hiding evidence, faulty manufacturing practices etc

Our companies never rejected any batches for not measuring upto standards. In fact, defective batches were sold in the local Indian market or sold in Africa.

In some parts of Africa, doctors recommend 10x the dosage of Indian medicines to their patients as the efficacy of the medicine is so low.

The Book covers the Ranbaxy saga in great deal. How the Singh brothers fooled Daichi is something to marvel at. What I found incredible was that the malpractices at Ranbaxy continued even after Daichi took over.

The Book is very harsh on Indian companies and the employees working there. Initially, the natural instinct for the Indian reader is to defend our homegrown champions but the evidence and the data is so damning that it would be like defending the indefensible.

Another takeaway of the Book was the effective whistle blower mechanism in the US. Dinesh Thakur , the whistle blower, whose untiring efforts led to Ranbaxy paying a $500 Million fine, got around $48 Million for his efforts.

Contrast that with the arrest and hounding of the whistle blower in India who had exposed GVK Biosciences.

I would strongly recommend this Book to all investors and those interested in Indian Pharma.

The flipside of reading this book is you may lose all faith in medicines manufactured by Indian pharma majors !

One reply on “Book Review: A Bottle of Lies”

Suggest you read review of same book by prof. Vivek Hattangadi.
I am practicing consultant physician for last 35 yrs. Book is a hit job on Indian pharma industry. Have always used therapeutic dose ofdrugs manufactured in India with expected results. Purpose of the book is to scare away American citizens so that they will not use generics manufactured in India and China. Pity so many so called elite people believe nonsense written in the book.

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