The Agenda with Steve Paikin S12E130 - Patient Groups and Big Pharma & Multi-Ethnic Donors Needed

Beginning in the early 1990s, as state-funding dried out, patient advocacy groups - collectives meant to express the needs of those suffering from serious diseases - were co-opted by pharmaceutical companies offering money in exchange for influence. So says author Sharon Batt, who details big pharma's supposed interference in her new book, "Health Advocacy Inc." Steve Paikin talks to her about the extent of this encroachment, and whether it has compromised Canada's patient advocacy organizations. Then, the Agenda explores the complex challenges that people of mixed ethnicity face when trying to find compatible bone-marrow and cord-blood donors, the topic of "Mixed Match," a documentary debuting on TVO.