Selling Sickness (2004)

Selling Sickness
Category: Documentaries
Regions: North America
Selling Sickness explores the unhealthy relationships between society, medical science and the pharmaceutical industry as they promote their new miracle cures -- selling not just drugs but also the latest diseases that go with them.

Drug manufacturers today fund aggressive marketing campaigns designed to create public awareness of previously unknown diseases, or known by less dramatic names. Shyness thus becomes branded as “Social Anxiety Disorder,” constant worry becomes “Generalized Anxiety Disorder,” and premenstrual tension is now “Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder.” The sale of SSRI anti-depressant medications used to treat these and other diseases, such as Paxil, Zoloft and Prozac, has become an annual $20 billion market.

Selling Sickness features commentary from paid medical consultants to the drug companies, patients, researchers, patient advocates, advertisers, attorneys, and psychiatrist Dr. David Healy, a critic of the pharmaceutical industry. The film also examines the deceptive use of clinical trials sponsored by the pharmaceutical companies, the highly addictive nature and many adverse side effects (like suicidal impulses among adolescent patients) of popular SSRI anti-depressants. At an FDA hearing in Washington, D.C., the testimony of parents who have lost their children to suicide starkly emphasizes the need for greater regulation of these heavily promoted and prescribed anti-depressants.

LinkTV sdtv divx rip, 1hr


Following is a from a post in pearljam forum:
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you should check out a couple of programs on today...they discuss the marketing of pharmaceutical drugs....the show was pretty interesting...basically big phram spends twice as much on advertising that it does on research...we then hear about a common "problem", i.e. shyness, and change the name to social anxiety disorder....suddenly, shyness is bad, and you can take pill to fix it...

here is a link to the show...

http://www.linktv.org/programming/programDescription.php4?code=w arning1

In 1976, Henry Gadson, the CEO of Merck, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the US, was interviewed by Fortune magazine. During the interview, Gadson complained of having to limit his market to sick people. His dream, he said was to be able to “sell to everyone” and make Merck more like “Wrigley” the chewing gum company.

Now thirty years later, as prescription and designer drugs become ever more prevalent, Mr.Gadson’s dream may have come true. In the four-hour special Warning: Before You Take This Pill, Link TV will explore the question of whether we’ve become smarter patients or are just plain worried sick.

Part 1 of the special features Selling Sickness, a compelling documentary that explores how drug companies today are not just selling medicine but also the diseases that go with them. Also featured are excerpts from Money Talks: Profits Before Patient Safety, a new film from Hummingbird Productions that offers an insider’s perspective from former pharmaceutical reps and doctors. During the special, Dr. Michael Steinman, Assistant Professor in Residence, Staff Physician, SFVAMC will be in discussion. Dr. Steinman has an active interest in pharmaceutical marketing practices and subtle ways that the industry may influence the prescribing behaviors of physicians.

For more on the special, see Warning: Before You Take This Drug – Part 2.

ABOUT THE FILM:
Selling Sickness explores the unhealthy relationships between society, medical science and the pharmaceutical industry as they promote their new miracle cures -- selling not just drugs but also the latest diseases that go with them. It examines the growing global controversy around SSRI antidepressant, such as Paxil, Zoloft, and Prozac, and also takes a personal look at two families who suffer the tragic consequences of society’s rush to find a pill for every ill. is this aggressive drug marketing not just changing humans but the human condition as well?

Money Talks: Profits before Patient Safety uses first hand testimony from doctors and drug reps to give a rare perspective on the questionable marketing tactics of the pharmaceutical industry. Engaging and informative, the film offers a reasoned approach to the subject matter, with guests like Dr. John Abramson, author of Overdosed America, and Prescription Access Litigation Project Director, Alex Sugerman-Brozan.

LEARN MORE:
For more information of Money Talks: Profits before Patient Safety, visit the film's website.