PHARMA

UK Parliment: "House of Commons Health Committee - THE INFLUENCE OF THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY"

"
The commercial success of the industry is not in doubt, nor is its ability to produce excellent science and important drugs; however, its ability to put the health of the nation consistently before the needs and expectations of its shareholders may be questioned. The evidence to this inquiry indicated that, in recent years, large pharmaceutical companies have become ever more focused on a marketing-based approach. In our view, this is the source of many of the problems we have identified. However, these problems are global and we received no evidence that the situation in the UK was worse than in other countries.
In Chapter 8 we examined the overall influence of the pharmaceutical industry. It is widely welcomed and relied on, but it is also pervasive and persistent. Our over-riding concerns are about the volume, extent and intensity of the industry’s influence, not only on clinical medicine and research but also on patients, regulators, the media, civil servants and politicians.
The failings we have described have consequences, in particular: The unsafe use of drugs; and The increasing medicalisation of society. These problems have existed in many countries. The UK may have a better record than many others. Drugs have been used unsafely in every country and we have no doubt that the drift towards medicalisation is a global phenomenon."

A major and recurring issue raised during the inquiry is the increased ‘medicalisation’ of our society – the pill for every problem