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The Aquila Trials
The monetization of medicine is merely in its cradle. - Ronit Arora, CEO, Meridian Labs In Frankfurt, an affluent heir faces his nemesis ten years after a miraculous cure. In Kolkata, an eminent NGO doctors the health records of unwitting sex workers. In cyberspace, an invisible army distorts consumers’ reality. And in Mumbai, biotechnologist Shubhra Sen connects the dots through ‘The Aquila Trials.’ In the maze of a clinical trial gone awry, Shubhra is set against an opponent who will stop at nothing to rise to the echelons of the Global Billionaire CEO Club. A kaleidoscopic perspective on pharmacracy lays bare the commercialization, politicization, and ritualization of medicine. Pitting the strategies of Chanakya against those of Sun Tzu, communications specialist Kruti Shah unfolds a story of Big Pharma greed, corporate arm-twisting, and thrill.
689 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 4, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 14, 2020
An important view from the author and a must read for any health care professional. It sheds light on the drug industry and makes you wonder about it’s practices. As a retired pharmacist I feel every pharmacy student passing through college should have to read this book. Even doctors going through medical school as well. A must read! PRB
January 24, 2021
Sample these gems:
“She was thankful that even at 11:25 p.m., Mumbai was as alive as a rock concert”
“But what added the snobbery around the Raja Luwak brand was that 150 pampered civet cats from the stable of Indonesia’s self proclaimed King of Luwak, Gunawan Supriadi, provided the intestinal machinery for these brand”
Shah indulges in a smart word play, that makes this 588 page book fun to read and savor, while we follow Subhra’s struggle to unearth a conspiracy of pandemic proportions. The author brilliantly puts to use her power of observation as she builds up the character of the protagonist - biotechnologist turned copy writer.
“ …otherwise she had more of her father’s Maharashtrian genes that explained her high cheekbones, sharp nose and full lips.”
I, despite being a true-blue Maharashtrian, have never been able to discern these features in a Marathi Manus worth his salt, let alone depicting him in such a succinct manner.
The drama opens at a relaxed pace with each character getting its due space to develop and shine. The layered narrative builds up gradually keeping the readers engrossed. As the author takes us to the guided tour of the pharmaceuticals industry traversing every corner from clinical trials to CRISPR and the dark side of the social media, one can’t help but wonder how little we know about the shadowy world that surrounds us as we go about our daily grind. Shah is impeccable with her research. I suspect years of investment in writing this heck of a story, capturing nuances of boardroom politics to the backroom theatrics.
Arguments between Shubra and Shiva, allowing the readers a good ringside view of the dilemmas faced by the pharmaceuticals industry professionals representing an ethical, principled point of view on one side and a pragmatic, survival-oriented approach on the other. Even the smallest of the characters have a personality, making an indelible impression on you. One such Dr. Kapoor appears just for two and a half pages and leaves behind a picture of a true blue garrulous Punjabi. Ronit Arora’s no holds barred ambition reflects well in his impatient demeanor that is well placed for a thrilling novel like this. However, this second-generation businessman, and the CEO of the Meridian Labs, would do well to tame down his temperament to fit into a real life character. Someone who aspires to take his company the next level as a research driven multinational by hiring and retaining the highly qualified competent specialists like Shiva Prasad, usually found in numbers less significant than the endangered luwaks, refinement and elegance can be operative words. An abrasive CEO like him can disintegrate his enterprise faster than Indian fly-by-night operators destroying the multinational drug patents thru’ reverse engineering. And he precisely achieves this by the time we reach the end of the story. His dreams of flying first class on AE480 diminishes his stature in the eyes of the readers when it mismatches the initial impression of his power that makes you think of the one who would be regularly chartering an Embraer Phenom for his business sorties.
As the fall of Ron (pun intended) becomes a foregone conclusion by the time one reaches halfway through the story, the reader’s curiosity diminishes only to increase once again to discover the fascinating tale of the Gloria shipwreck near goan coast and Guru’s near perfect plan to intimidate the protagonist.
Shubhra’s chutzpah and audacity adds to the excitement. As the plot thickens, the readers can hardly contain their sense of glee to see the frustration of Ron and the failure of Guru in achieving their objective thru Sam, Dam, Dand & Bhed. Shah is skillful at connecting the readers with the characters at the emotional level. Her exposition is brilliant as she explains the nuances of clinical trials or the social media manipulation by RedR. Her portrayal of Sonagachi brothels, the modest dwelling of Knightrider in the jungles of Gir, the medical conference in Thailand creates vivid imagery in front of your eyes.
However, the modern enterprise operates in much more complex environment fraught with the laws like FCPA and UKBA. It is quite outlandish to function like what Meridian Lab does and still manage to keep the interest of their US partners alive much until the last page where Ron gets ultimately vanquished. Subtlety and refinement is the hallmark of today’s corporate strategy and battles are won or lost at much higher intellectual plane. The narrative could have been crafted at this level and powerful mind games could have been introduced in order to make this closer to reality and more interesting to read (Charlie Brown, Charlie Baket and Nitin Krishna, Nitin Koshey episode is quite interesting though) . Clever characters like Shiva Prasad, Shubhra and Gurudev, highly capable of playing far smarter games, could have been elevated to the higher echelon of the human existence than portraying as creatures involved in just single minded pursuit of objectives with non-strategic approach. I would definitely suggest the author to delve deeper into the functioning of the human mind so her next publication can have the characters reflecting the complexity and richness of the primatial psyche instead of mere black or white personas with no shades of grey. The climax and the conclusion presumes the finality of the personal confession in eyes of the law, which could be far from the reality for an influential and resourceful person like Ronit Arora, while at the same time Arora failing to understand the value of the public perception, seems surprisingly naive for a second generation hands-on businessman.
Overall, I would rate this novel 4/5 and avidly look forward to Shah’s next publication where she authors a more intricate narrative of a shorter length.
_________________
As an icing on the cake, Shah Indulges the readers in specially curated quotes in the beginning of every chapter with the finest of witty ingredients (apologies to the contemporary copywriters who over exploited “specially curated ingredients” even to describe a humble samosa ).
My favorite,
“There is only one thing is life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about”
“She was thankful that even at 11:25 p.m., Mumbai was as alive as a rock concert”
“But what added the snobbery around the Raja Luwak brand was that 150 pampered civet cats from the stable of Indonesia’s self proclaimed King of Luwak, Gunawan Supriadi, provided the intestinal machinery for these brand”
Shah indulges in a smart word play, that makes this 588 page book fun to read and savor, while we follow Subhra’s struggle to unearth a conspiracy of pandemic proportions. The author brilliantly puts to use her power of observation as she builds up the character of the protagonist - biotechnologist turned copy writer.
“ …otherwise she had more of her father’s Maharashtrian genes that explained her high cheekbones, sharp nose and full lips.”
I, despite being a true-blue Maharashtrian, have never been able to discern these features in a Marathi Manus worth his salt, let alone depicting him in such a succinct manner.
The drama opens at a relaxed pace with each character getting its due space to develop and shine. The layered narrative builds up gradually keeping the readers engrossed. As the author takes us to the guided tour of the pharmaceuticals industry traversing every corner from clinical trials to CRISPR and the dark side of the social media, one can’t help but wonder how little we know about the shadowy world that surrounds us as we go about our daily grind. Shah is impeccable with her research. I suspect years of investment in writing this heck of a story, capturing nuances of boardroom politics to the backroom theatrics.
Arguments between Shubra and Shiva, allowing the readers a good ringside view of the dilemmas faced by the pharmaceuticals industry professionals representing an ethical, principled point of view on one side and a pragmatic, survival-oriented approach on the other. Even the smallest of the characters have a personality, making an indelible impression on you. One such Dr. Kapoor appears just for two and a half pages and leaves behind a picture of a true blue garrulous Punjabi. Ronit Arora’s no holds barred ambition reflects well in his impatient demeanor that is well placed for a thrilling novel like this. However, this second-generation businessman, and the CEO of the Meridian Labs, would do well to tame down his temperament to fit into a real life character. Someone who aspires to take his company the next level as a research driven multinational by hiring and retaining the highly qualified competent specialists like Shiva Prasad, usually found in numbers less significant than the endangered luwaks, refinement and elegance can be operative words. An abrasive CEO like him can disintegrate his enterprise faster than Indian fly-by-night operators destroying the multinational drug patents thru’ reverse engineering. And he precisely achieves this by the time we reach the end of the story. His dreams of flying first class on AE480 diminishes his stature in the eyes of the readers when it mismatches the initial impression of his power that makes you think of the one who would be regularly chartering an Embraer Phenom for his business sorties.
As the fall of Ron (pun intended) becomes a foregone conclusion by the time one reaches halfway through the story, the reader’s curiosity diminishes only to increase once again to discover the fascinating tale of the Gloria shipwreck near goan coast and Guru’s near perfect plan to intimidate the protagonist.
Shubhra’s chutzpah and audacity adds to the excitement. As the plot thickens, the readers can hardly contain their sense of glee to see the frustration of Ron and the failure of Guru in achieving their objective thru Sam, Dam, Dand & Bhed. Shah is skillful at connecting the readers with the characters at the emotional level. Her exposition is brilliant as she explains the nuances of clinical trials or the social media manipulation by RedR. Her portrayal of Sonagachi brothels, the modest dwelling of Knightrider in the jungles of Gir, the medical conference in Thailand creates vivid imagery in front of your eyes.
However, the modern enterprise operates in much more complex environment fraught with the laws like FCPA and UKBA. It is quite outlandish to function like what Meridian Lab does and still manage to keep the interest of their US partners alive much until the last page where Ron gets ultimately vanquished. Subtlety and refinement is the hallmark of today’s corporate strategy and battles are won or lost at much higher intellectual plane. The narrative could have been crafted at this level and powerful mind games could have been introduced in order to make this closer to reality and more interesting to read (Charlie Brown, Charlie Baket and Nitin Krishna, Nitin Koshey episode is quite interesting though) . Clever characters like Shiva Prasad, Shubhra and Gurudev, highly capable of playing far smarter games, could have been elevated to the higher echelon of the human existence than portraying as creatures involved in just single minded pursuit of objectives with non-strategic approach. I would definitely suggest the author to delve deeper into the functioning of the human mind so her next publication can have the characters reflecting the complexity and richness of the primatial psyche instead of mere black or white personas with no shades of grey. The climax and the conclusion presumes the finality of the personal confession in eyes of the law, which could be far from the reality for an influential and resourceful person like Ronit Arora, while at the same time Arora failing to understand the value of the public perception, seems surprisingly naive for a second generation hands-on businessman.
Overall, I would rate this novel 4/5 and avidly look forward to Shah’s next publication where she authors a more intricate narrative of a shorter length.
_________________
As an icing on the cake, Shah Indulges the readers in specially curated quotes in the beginning of every chapter with the finest of witty ingredients (apologies to the contemporary copywriters who over exploited “specially curated ingredients” even to describe a humble samosa ).
My favorite,
“There is only one thing is life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about”
November 2, 2020
This is as good as raising awareness to the next level or it will not be a extreme even if I say that it’s like educating people from the base. Mostly everyone knows about psychotropic substances and it’s misuse, but when comes to drugs used to treat psychological disorders and the one which crosses the blood brain barrier, there is much to know. I’ve been associated with a couple of such medicines in past and really known so many things which can’t be disclosed. Amazing work, keep it up 👍🏻
September 26, 2020
This is a great story full of mystery that will answer many questions and leave you wondering and asking for more.
Recommended!
Recommended!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews