Shedding Light on the Risks
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Disease Mongering
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Sometimes referred to as “selling sickness,” disease mongering is when pharmaceutical companies (sometimes working with healthcare professionals and patient groups) overstate the severity of minor conditions, expand the definition of existing diseases or emphasize the risk of “pre-diseases,” to increase drug sales and profits. One example is the promotion of female sexual dysfunction (FSD) in the early 2000s. While many doctors and researchers argue that this “disease” simply describes normal differences in sexual desire, pharma companies have been accused of promoting FSD as a serious and underdiagnosed condition in an effort to market drugs like flibanserin.
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