• Death By Prescription: A Father Takes On His Daughter's Killer -- The Multi-Billion Dollar Pharmaceutical Industry
• Terence Young
• Key Porter Books (2009)

Terence Young's personal crusade began like many others -- in his own home

On a Saturday evening in March 2000, his 15-year-old daughter Vanessa collapsed. She died the next day. Young soon discovered that Prepulsid -- a drug Vanessa was taking for a mild form of bulimia -- had a warning it shouldn't be taken by anyone with a condition of vomiting.

And so began his investigation into how his daughter died and Young's battle against the industry he holds responsible for her death.

He sued the maker of Prepulsid and eventually settled out of court. But through his research, he says he uncovered much deeper systemic problems that continue to seriously jeopardize the health of Canadians. The power of Big Pharma, he argues, is built on conflicts of interest and debts of gratitude with doctors, politicians and regulators. And he's vowed to change that.

Young started an advocacy organization called Drug Safety Canada and last fall got himself elected as a Conservative MP from Oakville.

The latest incarnation of his fight is his book Death by Prescription: A Father Takes on his Daughter's Killer

He's distributed it to his colleagues in Ottawa and has now tasked himself with convincing politicians and the public of the need for an independent drug agency in Canada that would focus solely on safety.

e is armed with a body of research and stats that come so naturally it is obvious they've been rhymed off in many an interview:

...In-hospital prescribed drugs are the fourth-leading cause of death in this country... The average Canadian now takes 14 prescriptions per year... Big Pharma has been the wealthiest industry in the world for most of the past 27 years...

He calls his fight a "totally non-partisan issue," but realizes he faces an uphill battle to reign in on the pharmaceutical companies. He is now in Western Canada to promote his book and here is part of what he told The Tyee in a phone interview from Banff...

On motivations for writing his book:

"In the big picture, I wrote the book to save lives because what I discovered about the pharmaceutical industry in five years of research of how the medical profession aid and abet them in marketing drugs and putting people at risk was absolutely shocking. In a smaller sense, the day after Vanessa died -- Sunday March 19 in 2000 -- I already had a clue that Prepulsid had been involved in her death because the doctors at the hospital were saying, 'Was she taking any drugs?' And then they discovered she'd been taking Prepulsid and said, 'Well, did I prescribe that drug?'

"So I realized the drugs had been involved in her death and since she otherwise was very, very healthy I basically swore an oath to myself the next morning that I would find out how she died and why she died and expose the truth.

"Although it was March 2000 -- although it was almost nine years ago -- nothing significant has changed in prescription drug safety. If anything the risks today are higher. And what happened in my family could happen in your family."

On public awareness about the dangers of prescription drugs:

"I would say generally the public and patients are in the dark about the risks related to prescription drugs. When I'm talking to people about what happened to Vanessa and the results of my research, I find there are two kinds of people I talk to. There are some who I can tell by the look on their face they start to think that I've really lost it -- that I'm grieving for my daughter.

"And the things I was telling people were that all prescription drugs cause adverse effects, not just some -- all. And that all drugs can be a poison and the only difference between a drug and a poison is dosage. This is the one that people find hard to believe.

"On the other hand, the second set of people I came across were those who immediately when I began talking to them they started to nod their heads in agreement. They understand the risks of drugs. They'd either had a bad experience or they'd read up on it or they'd been informed in some other way. But that's a much, much smaller group."

On the information given to patients and doctors:

"Those pamphlets that are handed out in drug stores are worse than useless. In fact, they're quite dangerous because they give you a false sense of security. They only list the common minor side effects. And so that might be interesting to a patient -- oh, it might cause diarrhea or it might cause headaches. But what is missing is the most important information, which are the rare but serious side effects like death.

"The reality is the doctors do not get proper safety warnings. The [Compendium of Pharmaceuticals and Specialties] labels are written in cryptic language where the doctors can't even understand if the drug is safe. The drug reps come into their office and say, 'Oh that's just legal stuff we have to put on the labels to protect ourselves. This is a good drug.' And the doctors simply don't read the information. Most of them never look.

"The CPS is a bunch of company-prepared documents called drug labels or official prescribing information, and they are prepared by lawyers. They're written by lawyers for lawyers so if the company gets sued they can arrive in court and say, 'Look, here's the official label' -- and they go from anywhere from 30 to 60 pages of fine print -- and they say, 'Your honour, here it is on page 39, fifth paragraph. It may cause this and this and this and this.'

"No doctor is going to read a 50 or 60-page document. They don't even look at the labels, they hardly ever crack open the book."