Firms inventing diseases to boost profit, claims report

PHARMACEUTICAL companies have been accused of deliberately creating diseases to boost profits, with many of their marketing strategies turning healthy people into patients, a leading medical journal has claimed.

The Public Library of Science Medicine has said that the drugs industry is promoting non-existent illnesses or exaggerating minor ailments. It lists female sexual dysfunction, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), osteoporosis and restless legs syndrome as some of the complaints targeted by unscrupulous pharmaceuticals.

According to the special edition, edited by David Henry of Newcastle University in Australia and journalist, Ray Moynihan, minor problems are being "medicalised" while risk factors such as heightened cholesterol are being sold as diseases in their own right.