big pharma (book) big pharma (book) big pharma: how the world's biggest drug companies control illness is a 2006 book by british journalist jacky law. the book examines how major pharmaceutical companies determine which health care problems are publicised and researched. big pharma may also refer to the pharmaceutical lobby. big pharma authorjacky lawcountryuksubjectpharmaceutical industrygenrescience writing, medicine, investigative journalismpublisherconstable (uk), carroll & graf (us)publication date16 january 2006pages256isbn978-1845291396 outlining the history of the pharmaceutical industry, law identifies what she says is the failure of a regulatory framework that assumes pharmaceutical companies always produce worthwhile products that society will want. law has written about healthcare for 25 years, seven of them as associate editor of scrip magazine, a monthly magazine for the drugs industry. reception ike iheanacho writes about the book that "the author is clearly no great fan of the industry. but, refreshingly, she avoids the sort of lazy polemic that casts major pharmaceutical companies as an evil empire that continually foists its products on unwilling and unsuspecting healthcare professionals and patients."