Drug companies 'inventing diseases'

Pharmaceutical companies are inventing diseases in order to sell more drugs, it has been claimed.

According to researchers in Australia, disease mongering is the 'selling of sickness that widens the boundaries of illness and grows the markets for those who sell and deliver treatments'.

In other words, diseases are invented, exaggerated or redefined, ensuring a greater demand for various drugs. Examples of this include the 'medicalisation' of menopause and the portrayal of mild problems, such as irritable bowel syndrome, as serious diseases.

"Disease mongering turns healthy people into patients, wastes precious resources and causes harm. It is exemplified most explicitly by many pharmaceutical industry-funded disease awareness campaigns. These are 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 said.

They pointed out that pharmaceutical companies now 'brand' conditions, just as they 'brand' medicines and many marketing strategies appear to be about 'selling sickness in order to sell drugs'.

"For instance, do 43% of women have difficulty with sexual relationships that might benefit from drug treatment? Should half of men over 50 be treated for erectile dysfunction? Are many shy people really suffering from social anxiety disorder? Are many human emotions like sadness and anger really diagnosable psychiatric disorders that will respond to drugs?", they asked.

The researchers comments are published in the journal, Public Library of Science and are set to be discussed as part of the Inaugural Conference on Disease Mongering, which is taking place in Australia this week. Link

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