John Oliver casts a witheringly comic look at the pharmaceutical industry

John Oliver takes on Big Pharma
(Image credit: Last Week Tonight)

John Oliver is back with a new season of Last Week Tonight, and he took aim at a pretty big target on Sunday night: Big Pharma. Once again, Oliver makes a topic that sounds dry or boring quite the opposite, mixing infuriating facts with jokes. The show's biggest laugh/gasp started out like this: "Drug companies are a bit like high school boyfriends...."

Pharmaceutical companies have been cutting back on attractive young sales reps, but adding doctors to their payroll to promote their drugs to other doctors. This is so "worrying," Oliver said, cutting to the chase, "because we trust doctors. When you see Rhianna trying to get you to drink coconut water, you know she's getting money to do that, and you take that into account." Oliver ended the segment with some good news — you can find out how much your doctor takes from drug and medical device companies at openpaymentsdata.cms.gov — and a half-hilarious mock drug ad featuring a doctor on the take. Side effects may include laughter and outrage. —Peter Weber

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.

Peter Weber

Peter Weber is a senior editor at TheWeek.com, and has handled the editorial night shift since the website launched in 2008. A graduate of Northwestern University, Peter has worked at Facts on File and The New York Times Magazine. He speaks Spanish and Italian and plays bass and rhythm cello in an Austin rock band. Follow him on Twitter.