On their first day of medical school, each student recites the ancient Hippocratic Oath to “do no harm”– a ritual that reinforces the healing power of “the white coat.” And yet few medical students are prepared to face the insidious power of the pharmaceutical industry, whose tentacles reach literally every aspect of their profession and influence medical decision-making in a way few realize. A handful of student activists and mid-career iconoclasts confront Big Pharma’s power head-on and, in a David vs Goliath-type struggle, show that change is possible.
