This revealing article explains how drug companies promote a system that does not cure disease so much as it promotes sickness -- it has now progressed to the point that sickness has been redefined so that drugs can be sold to people who are actually healthy.

Expanding the Definitions

The article describes how this works by examining how disease is managed in large populations. Medical conditions are defined by a set of numbers, and if the range of those numbers is broadened even slightly, a population of millions can suddenly become "diseased."

For example, if your blood pressure is above a certain number, you're officially diseased, but if it is below that, you're considered healthy. But this number is determined by consensus in the medical community rather than exact science, and therefore can be influenced by companies with long purse strings.

The Culture of Fear

The article also examines the role drug companies play in the creation and promotion of "trendy" diseases, and the way effective but free treatments such as exercise have been replaced in the public mind with more expensive therapies.

In particular, the piece looks at the culture of fear that drives medical advertising.

Some additional interesting facts presented in the article:

• Drug companies now spend more than $5.5 billion to promote drugs to doctors -- more than what all U.S. medical schools spend to educate medical students
• Major drug companies employ about 90,000 sales representatives -- one for every 4.7 doctors in the United States
• The total pharmaceutical marketing budget is $25 billion
• Drug firms have spent $800 million since 1998 buying influence, including $675 million on direct lobbying of Congress. No other interest group has spent more money to sway public policy