I don't see that much new here. The author of the book has focused on the length these companies went to to sell more drugs, the athletic side seems to be more of an intro.
In Europe, EPO's clinical trials began, and marathon runners, Nordic skiers and Dutch cyclists were getting a hold of the drug on the black market. From 1987 to 1990, about 18 young cyclists died under mysterious circumstances, including 27-year-old Johannes Draaijer. He had finished 20th in the 1989 Tour de France and had competed in another race a few months later. Then, he died suddenly of a heart blockage. It wasn't clear if Draaijer had used blood-thickening EPO. But his widow told the media that she hoped her husband's death would warn other athletes about EPO's danger.
The allegations here are probably not researched beyond google by the author. I think we have tried in the clinic, and only a few of the cyclist deaths could be linked to epo IIRC. The Nordic skiers part, stems from a comment by a danish dude I think, but nobody in the media followed it up. If there was anything strange going on with the Swedish skiers back then, I think we would know more about it.
Now the real crime here is pushing huge, perhaps lethal doses of epo on sick people to make money. And also the methods the drug companies used. I think all this is more of a problem in the US than most other 1st world countries. The US has a myriad of health systems, providing ample opportunity for exploitation. Countries with single payer systems don't have the same extent of these problems.
As far as I understand it EPO is difficult and expensive to synthesize. There was a quick program on it on Norwegian TV relating to the Armstrong case, and a professor said that it was very expensive and synthesized with the help of Hamster wombs.
This has perhaps changed in the last 10 years, with new drugs and new production methods.
Anyway, the point is that the drug is/was both expensive to produce and to get approval for by the regulatory authorities. Most drugs today are cheap to produce but expensive to research and get approval for.
So the dynamic of the profit making by the companies is a bit special with epo.
Now what also must be remembered is that one has to look at this in a historical perspective. Things are qualitatively different over the periods 1980-1990 1990-2000 and 2000 until now. Both in what companies can get away with regarding sales/marketing/fraud and what they can get away with regarding clinical trials etc.
And there is a huge difference between the US and the rest of the developed world due to the dysfunctional US health system. So things true for the US should not be seen as true of other places.
Now in the 80s we had the cold war, and sport had also become part of the cold war. What might not be that well known is that the Pentagon/CIA has a history of developing and testing drugs for different purposes, some for questionable uses and some not. However they have been careful to make sure most of the questionable testing is done outside of the US on non US citizens. The questionable research is usually buried, but some things were so big or badly hidden that they have come to the surface in some way.
It would not surprise me that much if some of the epo testing was done on athletes at the behest of the Pentagon in the late 80s. Soldiers on the battlefield sometimes need enhancement, and athletes are a good group with which to see if an effect is beneficial.
Now, I'm pretty sure most of the egregious clandestine pentagon medical research ended with the cold war in 1990-91, or shortly after. Mind you, I'm not 100% sure of any clandestine activity going on in the 80s. But it would fit a pattern of programs getting smaller and more hidden from the 40s an onward. The later the program, the more elaborately hidden and smaller.
Then came the period when the drug companies could exploit the regulatory and health systems to make money. This took on huge proportions in the US were there are several payers to rip off. However this also happened in Europe to some extent. Though the effect of this fraudulent behavior is likely to differ in regards to how corrupt these countries are(cough Greece
).
Since 2000 there has been increased focus on the regulatory frameworks all over the world. The US with it's myriad of systems has a lot to clean up.
So when thinking about Amgen and other companies involvement in doping, it is important to remember that the opportunity for involvement is different over the different time periods. And, that the situation in one country can not be easily transferred to the situation in another country.
PS. I'm no expert. This is all my opinion on how things are/ might have been in the past.