Once there was a time when the federal government barred Big Pharma from selling their wares on T.V. and then it became acceptable. Now we have TV commercials that tell the watcher to ask his or her doctor whether the advertised medicine
"is right for you."
Today we have the Inaugural Conference on Disease-Mongering to ask the question, Are the drug companies making up diseases?
Drug companies are inventing diseases to sell more of their products, it has been claimed. Scientists have accused major pharmaceutical firms of "medicalising" problems like high cholesterol or the symptoms of the menopause in a bid to increase profits.
Last week, Julie Deardorff wrote There is a cure for a new disease called fictionosis;
At next week's conference, Henry and other speakers will discuss how the world's largest drug companies "brand" conditions just as they "brand" medicines by using three main strategies: giving a little-known condition new attention, renaming an existing disease or creating a whole new illness.
Panelists also will discuss how Pfizer redefined sexual dysfunction and the selling of bipolar disorder. Other sessions address the way drug companies aggressively target the healthy to create a disease market.
Identifying a disease does have its benefits. Some physicians say the simple act of giving a name to symptoms brings relief and empowers a patient. It's also important to raise public awareness about undertreated illnesses. Drug companies do provide essential medications.
But, Henry asks, do 43 percent of women have difficulty with sexual relationships that might benefit from drug treatment, or is the problem partner incompetence? Should half the men over 50 be treated for erectile dysfunction? And are normal human emotions such as sadness and anger signs of mental illness?
There is also some information from BBC News, Drug firms 'inventing diseases';
"It is exemplified mostly explicitly by many pharmaceutical industry-funded disease awareness campaigns - more often designed to sell drugs than to illuminate or to inform or educate about the prevention of illness or the maintenance of health."
The researchers called on doctors, patients and support groups to be aware of the marketing tactics of the pharmaceutical industry and for more research into the way in which conditions are presented.
They added: "The motives of health professionals and health advocacy groups may well be the welfare of patients, rather than any direct self-interested financial benefit, but we believe that too often marketers are able to crudely manipulate those motivations.
"Disentangling the different motivations of the different actors in disease-mongering will be a key step towards a better understanding of this phenomenon."
Of course this is mostly an American problem. The research is centered on the US where the drugs industry had much more freedom to promote their products to the public than most countries. That's why it is being discussed in Newcastle, New South Wales!
Now America has a Disease Economy!
Of course, the disease economy promotes Big Pharma companies. These are the pharmaceutical manufacturers in this country, and they are huge global corporations. The selling of pharmaceuticals is a $1 trillion industry. It's an amazing statistic. Here in the United States, some of our largest corporations are drug companies. In fact, as I've stated before, the top 10 pharmaceutical companies in the United States earn more money than the remaining 490 Fortune 500 companies. Just recently, I heard the Bush administration was very excited about the news that we are experiencing economic growth in this country. The economy is up, more money is changing hands, and that's all that economists really look at when calculating gross domestic product or gross national product. They're just looking at the total number of dollars that changed hands.
What often happens is a drug company seizes on a little-known condition and hires a public relations firm to hype both the "disease" and its miracle drug. People watching their televisions are drawn in and the hugh advertisement budgets are offset by economy of scale.
Americans are taking too many dangerous drugs to support big drug companies. The drugs are made dangerous by an FDA that has laid down on the job.
There once was a time before lobbyist ran this nation when government was expected to protect the citizens. Can the Drug Companies be trusted to work for the common good?
Here is a link to the abstract from the inaugural Conference on Disease-Mongering.