How Pharma Companies Are Turning Everyday Issues into ‘Diseases’ for Profit

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Pharma companies are ruining your health for profit. Here’s how.

Ray Moynihan, a healthcare journalist and documentary film maker, disillusioned with the gnawing problem of “too much medicine,” devised a satirical project with colleagues at the British Medical Journal (BMJ). Together, they invented a fictional disease termed “Motivational Deficiency Disorder,” accompanied by a marketing campaign branding it as “The New Epidemic.” It was a flippant attempt to reframe the everyday experience of laziness as a medical disorder requiring clinical intervention and pharmacological treatment.

To enhance the plausibility, they invented a fake drug, Strival-PH, created supposed screening tools, identified imaginary genetic markers, and produced fabricated statistics about the disorder’s prevalence rates. The definition of the condition was deliberately broadened to encompass a wide segment of the affected population.



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