
Selling Sickness
How drug companies are turning us all into patients
Allen & Unwin (Publisher)
Published on 1. June 2005
Book
Paperback/Softback
272 pages
978-1-74114-579-3 (ISBN)
Description
read this book and rage.' Clive Hamilton This remarkable investigation of the Sickness Industry is by two accomplished writers with an incredible story to tell.' Robyn WilliamsThree decades ago, the head of one of the world's leading drug companies made some remarkably candid comments. Wishing his company was more like the chewing gum maker Wrigley's, the chief executive of Merck said it had long been his dream to make drugs for healthy people, and sell to everyone'. That dream now drives the marketing machinery of one of the most profitable industries on the planet.Using their dominating influence in medical science, drug companies are marketing fear in order to re-define human illness. In alliance with company-friendly doctors and sponsored patient groups, the all-powerful pharmaceutical industry is helping to widen the very definitions of disease, in order to expand markets for its drugs. With compelling clarity, Selling Sickness reveals how the ups and downs of daily life are becoming mental disorders, and common complaints are being transformed into frightening conditions.
Shyness is Social Anxiety Disorder, PMS is a psychiatric illness called PMDD, and active children now have ADHD. As more and more ordinary people are turned into patients, drug companies move ever closer to that dream of selling to everyone.
Shyness is Social Anxiety Disorder, PMS is a psychiatric illness called PMDD, and active children now have ADHD. As more and more ordinary people are turned into patients, drug companies move ever closer to that dream of selling to everyone.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Sydney
Australia
Dimensions
Height: 208 mm
Width: 140 mm
Weight
360 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-74114-579-3 (9781741145793)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Ray Moynihan is one of the world's leading health writers. His work has appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the Australian Financial Review, the British Medical Journal, Lancet and New England Journal of Medicine. Alan Cassels is a Canadian researcher and writer who works on drug policy issues.
Content
Prologue1. Selling to everyone - High cholestorol2. Donuts for the doctors - Depression 3. Working with celebrities - Menopause4. Partnering with patients - Attention deficit disorder5. Making risks into medical conditions - High blood pressure 6. Advertising diseases: Premenstrual dysphoric disorder 7. Shaping public perceptions - Social anxiety disorder8. Testing the markets - Osteoporosis9. Taming the watchdogs - Irritable bowel syndrome10. Subverting the selling - Female sexual dysfunctionEpilogue - What can we do?