Yahoo June 8, 2018
The
pharmaceutical industry’s image has been significantly damaged in
recent years as the public discovered the role its aggressive marketing
played in fueling the opioid epidemic. But the American people are still
largely in the dark about what may be pharma’s most effective tactic
for pushing drugs — marketing diseases.
There’s
a substantial body of medical literature dating back to the early ’90s
about the practice known as “disease mongering.” Pharmaceutical
companies regularly pathologize everyday experiences, convince doctors
that they are serious problems, tell a hypochondriacal public it needs
help and offers the cure: a new drug. Against the onslaught of billions
of dollars in marketing campaigns each year, however, researchers’
warnings about these tactics have gone largely unheeded.
To
be clear: Pharmacology has helped countless people recover from illness
or lead more productive lives. But the number of patients receiving any
given drug is often greater than those who would benefit from it, and
often includes people it could harm.
The United States was still the largest single pharmaceutical market
in 2017, generating more than $450 billion of revenue. In contrast, all
of Europe accounted for roughly $214 billion. U.S. pharmaceutical
spending alone is double the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average. According to the Mayo Clinic, nearly 70 percent of Americans take at least one prescription drug.
