Are Drug Manufacturers Selling Sickness?
In the research paper cited, the authors predicted that their findings would prompt some women to stay on antidepressants throughout pregnancy. However, the study ended up making front-page news on July 11, 2006 after an investigation by the Wall Street Journal discovered that 9 of the 13 authors had undisclosed financial ties to the SSRI makers. Which raises the question of whether SSRI makers are “selling sickness,” using these so-called “experts” to convince doctors to keep prescribing drugs that are known to harm the fetus to increase profits. By now the industry’s habit of planting bogus studies in medical journals and the media to promote drugs has become widely recognized. In the paper, “Selling sickness: the pharmaceutical industry and disease mongering,” published in 2002 in the British Medical Journal, the authors describe how alliances of drug companies, doctors, and patient advocacy groups, use the media to portray conditions as being severe and widespread. The paper notes
