“David against Goliath”, highlights Robert Santiago (Madrid, 1968) is about the struggle of a small, heterogeneous and complex group of lawyers from Carabanchel led by Jeremías Abi. an omnipotent and corrupt multinational pharmaceutical inside ‘Forensic thriller ‘Revolt of the good guys’ (Planet), Fernando Lara Award. Based on an investigation that has proven to collect “amazing” information that people in the industry told him anonymously, he produced the crime novel on public denial after “Ana” (which Maribel Verdú embodied in a television series). It is the new record of versatile screenwriter, playwright, and film director. ‘World’s longest sentence’ or ‘Suicide club’who took Cervantes Boy 2021 For her career in children’s and youth literature, such as bestselling series ‘Football players’.
Our health depends pharmaceutical We have seen that in a pandemic they can become masters of the world.
Huge multinational corporations billing billions and billions more than the banking industry, the arms industry. The equation is simple: if they are private companies, the goal is to make a profit. And we put everyone’s health in their hands: the sicker we are, the more medicated we are, and the less questions we ask ourselves, the more they benefit. The problem is the system that allows it. let’s let
Pharmaceuticals bills more than the arms industry and banking
The book begins with a quote from Edmund Burke: “For evil to triumph, only the good must do nothing.” Is it necessary to save ‘Indignaos’? by Stephane Hessel?
We have to ask ourselves if this is the system we want. We must be angry, we must revolt. But we’re interested in solving the urgent: getting to the end of the month, taking care of your sick parents, your children… We don’t have time to look beyond or try to change the system. We are compatible. We are in the middle of the pre-campaign and you will not hear any politician talk about it. Our subconscious knows that these pharmaceutical companies are not acting very ethically, but we are drugged. Great powers prefer a sleeper society.
points according to OECD80% of Western society overuse drugs with anxiolytics and antidepressants.
And meanwhile, much of the planet continues to be under-medicated and without medication for malaria or other diseases. They know where the business is. That’s why they don’t do research to find drugs for minority diseases because it’s not profitable for them. Having health in private hands is a perversion.
We must revolt. We are under anesthesia. Great powers prefer a sleeper society
condemns corruption. Does power always corrupt?
Corruption is the biggest problem, it is in human nature. In cases of corruption in finance and politics, power and money often go hand in hand. It makes sense for it to be in such a vast industry. For this reason, there are many cases where drugs are approved even though they know they have side effects. Look at America and opium. The land of cases but has grown exponentially in Spain and Europe. There are thousands of victims’ complaints against drug companies, but most of them are resolved through out-of-court economic settlements before sentences are served. And if they are executed, they engage resources and resources and counter-appeals so they don’t thrive. This is infuriating.
Who is behind these businesses? Unscrupulous people?
People of flesh and blood from another planet. It’s a class difference. The planet’s great wealth comes from the cradle. They are born with privileges. That’s why the lawyers in the novel are in Carabanchel, the little neighborhood where I was born. It’s very difficult to get promoted. These lucky ones take it for granted that they have the right to have whatever they want.
What data gave you goosebumps?
I’m telling real things through fiction: they’re releasing drugs knowing they’re addictive or have devastating effects. Use of human guinea pigs in Africa condemned by ‘The Constant Gardener’. This is creepy. I don’t understand how these people can sleep peacefully knowing that they are responsible. They don’t have any reasons.
We put health in the hands of private pharmaceutical companies that only care about your interests.
And patents…
What a rascal… Research on vaccines and the vast majority of drugs is 85% financed by the state with our taxes. Pharmaceutical companies come to the final stage of development, put the remaining 15% and hold the patent. No incumbent politician should allow this and put an end to it, but it does not yield electoral returns. Politicians are not bad or good, they are a reflection of society. We vote for all of them.
There is the problem of impunity.
Definitely. If a company in the United States can pay $5,000 million in compensation without breaking a sweat and continue operating… They know they will pay the price if they are caught. It makes up for them.
How come laws that represent so much progress against sexist harassment are now considering repealing them?
The owner of the pharmaceutical company hires Jeremías’ office for one million dollars. Does anyone have a price?
It is one of the keys of the novel. I don’t know if we would all sell. I don’t put my hand on fire for anyone. And not just for money. What if they offer to solve a problem that your children or close relatives are having? You may think of betraying your ideals and yourself for something other than money.
Were you not pressured to stop investigating?
No, and I hope I don’t get them. I wrote the novel so that we could ask ourselves questions and stand up, it is fiction. While I was writing ‘Ana’ about the gaming industry, I didn’t get threats, I just got stutters while filming the drama…
There is a subtopic about male abuse.
I lived up close. It makes me rebel. We’ve come a long way, but there are many clues to the setback. How is it possible that we have not learned? How could the laws that represented so much progress now consider repealing them? It seems that there was an agreement between left and right in this and suddenly some of them dispersed. In any great advance, there is always a section of society that wants to go backwards, but it just seems bloody to me about it. I want to believe that there will be no setbacks, that these setbacks will not infect others.
Write successfully for children. Do you understand these low reading comprehension rates?
Worrying. Something is not right in the education system. It’s paradoxical and hopeless that boys read a lot and it’s happening. Forcing something to read wrong is an error. We must invite, encourage and set an example. Families ask what I should do to get their children to read. I say that they read it first, that they see them with a book in their hands every day. Parents have a great responsibility.