Malignant

"Aimed at general readers (including patients), oncology trainees and experts in health-care policy, it informs and disturbs throughout."—Andrew Robinson, Nature

"Patients should ask their oncologist how good the cure is: do I really live longer and better than doing "nothing"? Let them start by asking whether their doctor has read Prasad's book."—Zurich Weekly News Review

"Prasad does a commendable job demonstrating how lax standards of evidence and regulations, coupled with the profit-driven pharmaceutical industry, result in a lot of poorly effective or ineffective (but very expensive) drugs being used on cancer patients in the United States and worldwide. There isn't anything quite like this book out there."—Kenneth W. Lin, MD, MPH, Georgetown University

"This important book tackles a very topical and controversial subject in a scholarly, original, and skeptical (but not too cynical) way. Prasad's iconoclastic position will hopefully contribute to reflections on how to change some paradigms in cancer medicine. An essential read for oncologists in training, people in the drug industry, and health care policymakers."—John A. Hickman, health care consultant

"Prasad outlines a plan that will educate consumers about how we ended up in our current predicament and explain what we can do to extricate ourselves from it. I highly recommend this book to patients, patient advocates, and all physicians—not just oncologists."—Ameet Sarpatwari, Harvard Medical School / Brigham and Women's Hospital

"An insightful, well-written, and important book. Prasad has a masterful understanding of the issues he presents, weaving them into a compelling story."—Christopher Booth, MD, Queen's University at Kingston Cancer Research Institute

"Oncology drug development is full of hype and spin, which raises false hopes, confuses patients, and wastes money. Prasad incisively dissects crummy evidence and systematic abuses, including the pernicious effects of financial conflicts and academic self-promotion, and proposes sensible steps to improve development of new therapies for cancer."—David P. Steensma, MD, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute / Harvard Medical School

"Malignant confirms Vinayak Prasad's status as one of the most cogent critical voices in oncology today. This is a book that needs to be read by everyone involved or interested in the care of people with cancer as a comprehensive overview of a dire situation and a call to action."—Richard Lehman, University of Birmingham

"A must-read! Prasad masterfully dissects problems in policy and evidence that have led to a surfeit of high-cost/low-value cancer drugs. With powerful examples he shows why this cannot continue if the best interests of patients are to be served and offers solutions ready for implementation."—Elizabeth Eisenhauer, OC, MD, FRCPC, Queen's University

"[Malignant is] so applicable to the issues of the pandemic . . . Because what we're seeing is a research infrastructure that is not set up to do rapid evaluation, and to be resilient and to respond to a health crisis."—Marty Makary, MD, MPH, MedPage Today