HST440 Health & Pharmaceuticals

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course offers a critical examination of drug development, including the role of health professionals and the pharmaceutical industry in researching, testing, marketing, licensing, and evaluating pharmaceutical drugs, as well as a careful and critical examination of our current health care system. Topics include the differing needs for drug development, evaluation and dispensing in lower income countries, and potential conflicts of interest in drug development.  Students will investigate the secrecy and conflicts of interest in the research and development of pharmaceuticals that lead to new therapies, in the real context of the risks they present as a leading cause of death in North America.  We will explore how patients can uncover the truth about the efficacy and safety of their medicines and work to determine to what extent the drug industry and our regulators are serving the best interests of patients. Students will learn who decides what medicines are developed and why, and how the prices of drugs are set in Canada, the US and elsewhere, leaving millions of patients worldwide diseased with uncertain fates and limited access to pharmaceuticals that can help them. The course also explores Canada's steady march towards for-profit delivery of publicly funded care, with very little evidence to support this direction.  Students will learn about the gaps in information with respect to prescription drugs and public health care, what they can do about it. 

This course is not for the passive student!  Any student who believes patients have a right to know the whole truth about their health and medicines, and wants to shape reforms in the areas of pharmaceuticals and health, should consider this course.