Reflections: Pharmaceuticals and biotechnologies through STS lenses

Sergio Sismondo

Chapter 34 in Handbook of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology Studies, 2026, pp 555-566 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Pharmaceuticals are exemplary sites for understanding how knowledge, power, and capital are entangled. In these ‘Reflections’ I draw on themes and tensions from across the Handbook, highlighting three interconnected dynamics: the hegemonic influence of pharmaceutical corporations over medical knowledge and innovation; the rise of precision medicine and orphanization, which reorganize disease categories, regulatory practices, and solidarities; and enduring North–South asymmetries in pharmaceutical production, access, and governance. Rather than resolving any of many tensions, I close this volume with questions about accountability, equity, uncertainty, and solidarity, arguing that pharmaceuticals remain crucial objects for critical STS inquiry into the future of medicine, governance, and collective life.

Keywords: Pharmaceuticalization; Boundary work; Precision medicine; Orphan drugs; Global health inequities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035338443
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