Healthy Skepticism Library item: 18645

Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.

Publication type: Journal Article

Godlee F
Are we at risk of being at risk?
BMJ 2010 Sep 6; 341:
http://www.bmj.com/content/341/bmj.c4766.full

Abstract:

Who decides what constitutes a disease and what is normality? Over the centuries such decisions have been the preserve of the medical profession, aided more recently by modern medical science. But the profession has grown too close to those who profit from developing drugs for new diseases and is no longer fit to make these decisions. This in brief is Ray Moynihan’s thesis, developed over years of reporting on the relationship between doctors and the drug industry, and vigorously reprised in this week’s journal (doi:10.1136/bmj.c4442).

Moynihan’s target this time is prehypertension, a condition that along with preosteoporosis and prediabetes has the potential to transform most of the world’s adult population into patients. And although lifestyle change may have been the original treatment plan for those with “high normal” blood pressure, the drug industry is making plain its interest in this vast potential market. …