Big Pharma in the Overdose Crisis: A Former Drug Rep Speaks Out | Gail Groves Scott | TEDxLancaster

NOTE FROM TED: This talk only reflects the speaker's personal views and experiences. TEDx events are independently organized by volunteers. The guidelines we give TEDx organizers are described in more detail here: storage.ted.com/tedx/manuals/t...
Gail Groves Scott thought that her efforts in pharma sales improved patient care. But she and other drug reps were taught to market opioids with misleading sales messages. Then Gail got a chance to make a difference launching a groundbreaking medicine for addiction. Sales figures broke records, but was the manufacturer truly serving the public health? She shared concerns with her managers, but didn’t see things change. That’s when she went from drug rep to whistleblower. Hear why billions were paid back to taxpayers, a CEO went to jail, and how policymakers could improve industry oversight. A researcher, public health policy advocate and doctoral student, Gail Groves Scott, MPH, studies prescription drug marketing and addiction policy. She was a pharmaceutical sales rep for more than 16 years, before becoming a whistleblower for the U.S. Department of Justice, about the marketing of the addiction medicine Suboxone ™(buprenorphine/naloxone). She testified as a fact witness for a grand jury in the Purdue Pharma/ OxyContin ™ case. Most recently, she spent three years on staff at a Philadelphia university, launching a program to educate multidisciplinary healthcare professionals and policymakers about addiction, recovery, harm reduction & stigma. Gail was a TEDMED 2018 scholar. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx

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