The Whistleblower Who Inspired A John Le Carré Novel - Season Two

Welcome to Season Two of What Your GP Doesn't Tell You

This week’s story is so extraordinary that the best selling spy writer John Le Carré used it as the inspiration for one of his novels. And indeed if it was a work of fiction it would be dismissed as too fantastical or improbable. To tell this remarkable tale, I am talking to whistleblower Dr Nancy Olivieri, who became concerned during a  trial about the effectiveness of a drug that she was using to treat thalassemia – an inherited form of anaemia.

Nancy was threatened with legal action by the drug company Apotex - who were part funding the trial -and told it would be a breach of contract if she mentioned her concerns to  patients. This would spark decades of legal action, vitriol and intrigue during which time many careers including Nancy’s would be destroyed, investigations would be launched, private detectives  be hired and an academic found guilty of sending anonymous letters finally  tracked down by his DNA.

 

Dr Nancy  F.  Olivieri is a professor of pediatrics, medicine and public health services at the University of Toronto, a senior scientist at Toronto General Hospital and the executive director of Hemoglobal®

 

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The host of the podcast, Liz Tucker is an award winning medical journalist and former BBC producer and director.  You can follow Liz on Twitter at @lizctucker and read her Substack newsletter about the podcast at liztucker.substack.com

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