Condition Branding Summary

Among the four panelists, Darian Leader had impressed me the most not only because of his viewpoints but the logic of his arguments. First of all, he pointed out that a hundred years ago in the medical journals, the references indicated that people who were depressed or anxious would take prescription, but those disorders would never be framed as symptoms or phenomena. However, that situation has changed radically recently. Those symptoms or phenomena have become equated with disorders, and were defined as some illnesses. In the past 30 years, the diagnosis categories have been increased from about one hundred to 350~400. What has happened? Mr. Leader suggested that it might be the marketing strategies of those Pharmatheutical companies.
When the companies wanted to introduce­ a new drug, the drug had to pass number of tests. Companies had …show more content…
Therefore, to the drug companies, the most important thing is not only simply to market the drugs but to market the illness that the drug will fit as well. Through journal supplements, conferences and academic researches, they gave those symptoms or phenomena some new names which so called illnesses. Here Mr.
Leader had mentioned the word "Condition Branding", which means that condition branders use "information" about medical conditions to forge links between disease and treatment in the minds of both patients and doctors. If they have a drug but no condition, they will simply invent a disease. As we can see on the Wikipedia, there are so many different kinds of mental disorder, but do they really represent some illnesses, or just the companies changed the definitions of illnesses to suit the profile of the drug?
Pharmatheutical companies claimed that they have invested lots of money on the drug­ developing industries, but do the patients must need those drugs? Some of them might need the drugs, but for the others, there are still some issues to