Drug Addiction
Paul Zane Pilzer – an economist – gave an interesting talk about the “Wellness” industry where he basically said that drug companies are not interested in curing disease – but rather ensuring that people stay addicted or dependent on the drugs they produce.
Each new drug product release – together with some clever marketing – “disease mongering” – generates the hope of a better life.
So the average man / layman on the street buys this hope.
By maintaining, developing and promoting the drug addiction, the pharmaceutical company profits are protected and continue to increase every year.
The customer lifetime value (CLV) of using the drugs every day / week / month is their cash cow.
In “Selling Sickness – How drug companies are turning us all into patients“, Ray Moynihan gives examples of how the cooperation between drug companies and the medical profession can make healthy people believe they are sick!
Drug companies are using their dominating influence in medical science, to market fear in order to re-define human illness. Together with company-friendly doctors and sponsored patient groups, the all-powerful pharmaceutical industry is helping to widen the very definitions of what we call disease.
Suddenly the normal ups and downs of life are being turned into frightening conditions that have us all buying and using drugs!
After my multiple sclerosis prognosis, I started looking at a change in diet as my medication – not a three times weekly Merck Serono International subcutaneous Rebif injection!
If my neurologist didn’t have a box of Rebif information pamphlets and samples donated by the local pharmaceutical industry representative, would my prognosis have been the same, unbiased? Mmmm…
Perhaps if you listen to Paul Zane Pilzer’s “Wellness” and give “Selling Sickness” a read, you’ll understand why I strongly believe that MS has just been marketed as an “incurable disease” and can be healed without drugs!
