MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'disease mongering'. Sat, 03 Sep 2011 02:17:13 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=5008657&cid=t_101016_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2FzvMEtESvnWs%2F File this under ‘Only In Your Dreams.’ To promote its Zolfresh sleeping pill in India, Abbott Laboratories has embarked on an advertising campaign that is being harshly criticized for using unproven data and old-fashioned fear in the guise of educating consumers about insomnia. Moreover, critics say the ads may prompt some people to buy potentially harmful pills that are not really needed, Reuters writes in an interesting expose. To wit, a newspaper ad featuring an attractive Bollywood actress warns that “Hard Work Never Kills. Lack of Sleep Can.” The message then says that “Research shows that sleeping less than 6 hours at night leads to (a) 48 percent increase in developing or dying from heart disease.” But the research cited only demonstrates an assoc... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=5008657 Fri, 08 Jul 2011 17:12:36 +0100 5008657 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4684356&cid=t_101016_88_f&fid=38129&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Flifeinthefastlane%2FWZHV%2F%7E3%2Foah4J7BW6Qo%2F Thanks to the wonders of modern science, not only are we able to 'medically' justify every ache, pain, whinge, grimace and gripe we suffer - but we are also offered a cure at the same time! (Source: Life in the Fast Lane) Life in the Fast Lane blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4684356 Wed, 06 Apr 2011 08:56:21 +0100 4684356 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4133713&cid=t_101016_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fscreen-everyone-for-pancreatic-cancer-what-about-evidence-and-harm%2F2010.11.03 Continuing this week’s spontaneous theme (we didn’t make the claims and write the stories) of runaway enthusiasm for various screening tests by some researchers and journalists, HealthDay news service has reported on a study published in the Oct. 28 issue of the journal Nature that they say “provides new insight into the genetics of pancreatic cancer.” In the story, they let one of the researchers get away with saying, almost unchallenged: “What’s important about this study is that it’s objective data in support of why everyone should be screened for pancreatic cancer.” Mind you, this was a study that looked at tissue from just seven patients. The story continued with its breathless enthusiasm for the pancreatic cancer screening idea: &#822... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4133713 Wed, 03 Nov 2010 20:00:41 +0100 4133713 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4105667&cid=t_101016_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fa-secret-sign-of-aging-international-disease-mongering%2F2010.10.25 Just five days ago we wrote about an American journalist’s observations of medicalization of one problem sometimes observed after menopause: Vaginal atrophy. Today we see that this disease-mongering trend has popped up in Australia as well. This should be no surprise. Such campaigns are usually led by multinational pharmaceutical companies and their advertising and public relations agencies. What caught our eye was an article on a women’s health foundation website — a foundation that posts a pretty thin excuse for why it won’t tell you its source of funding. Its article on vaginal atrophy uses classic disease-mongering language: “Ask a woman over the age of 50 about the ‘signs of ag[e]ing’ and she’ll most likely lament about grey hairs, wrin... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4105667 Mon, 25 Oct 2010 18:00:43 +0100 4105667 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=4053290&cid=t_101016_87_f&fid=39187&url=http%3A%2F%2Fgetbetterhealth.com%2Fmammogram-parties-have-a-mammogram-get-flowers-and-chocolates%2F2010.10.09 The Chicago Tribune reports on mammogram marketing tactics being used across the U.S. — some of it apparently to “woo women back to the imaging room” after confusion over conflicting advice about breast cancer screening. Yes, the tactics include “mammogram parties” offering chocolate fondue, massages, beauty consultations, wine, cheese, roses, and weekend-getaway spa packages. But there’s another side to this, the Tribune reports: Simply inviting women to “mammogram parties,” could send the wrong message, said Lynne Hildreth, department administrator of women’s oncology at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa. …”Mammograms are a medical test, and to treat it like a haircut overlooks that there are very real risks,” said Hild... Better Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=4053290 Sat, 09 Oct 2010 23:00:08 +0100 4053290 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3283815&cid=t_101016_150_f&fid=34889&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpharmamkting.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F02%2Fsnarky-look-at-sneaky-marketing-tactics.html My friend Jonathan Richman (@jonmrich) often sees the pharma marketing glass half full, whereas I often see it half empty. It's just the way we are wired. The goal, however, is the same -- improve pharma marketing.Jonathan likes lists. In a recent article entitled "10 sneaky marketing tactics you need to avoid" published on iMedia Connection, Jonathan lists some dubious marketing tactics that companies should avoid. After just a cursory reading of his list, it is obvious to me that pharmaceutical marketers have not been very good at avoiding most of these and other sneaky tactics. #1 Sneaky Tactic Pharma Has Not Avoided: "AstroTurfing""Simply put," says Richman, "AstroTurfing is when a company or group creates a campaign designed to look like a grassroots consumer movement when, in fact, i... Pharma Marketing Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3283815 Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:19:00 +0100 3283815 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2301646&cid=t_101016_150_f&fid=34889&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpharmamkting.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F04%2Foveractive-bladder-pharmacia.html I just received a link to an old Powerpoint (PPT) presentation that was featured at an October, 2002, Pharmaceutical Marketing Research Group (PMRG) conference. The presentation was entitled "Positioning Detrol (Creating a Disease)" and the presenter was Neil Wolf who, at the time, was Group Vice President at Pharmacia, the drug company purchased by Pfizer. As you may know, Pfizer is preparing Toviaz, a follow-on drug to Detrol, for marketing (see "Detrol v. Toviaz: Marketing Replaces Innovation at Pfizer!").The presentation outlines the strategies used to convert a "niche product into a Mass Marketing Opportunity." I downloaded it here after receiving an anonymous comment to my Toviaz post.I was gratified to get my hands on this PPT because I remembered being present at the 2002 meeting a... Pharma Marketing Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2301646 Sun, 05 Apr 2009 13:49:00 +0100 2301646 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1990798&cid=t_101016_150_f&fid=34889&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpharmamkting.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F11%2Fmaking-killing-scientology-video-blasts.html I stumbled across "Making A Killing" -- a new video produced by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), which is a non-profit organization founded in 1969 by the Church of Scientology -- after reading a post by Howard Brody, medical ethicist author of the Hooked: Ethics, Medicine, and Pharma blog.Brody wrote a "public service announcement" claiming that he was misled into being interviewed for the video that demonstrates the "underhanded and dishonest methods used by Scientology to attack the practice of psychiatry and the use of psychotropic medications."Brody ended by saying "I regret very much allowing myself to have become involved in this project and would like it to be known that I disown and disapprove of the final product and the way that it has been disseminated."Of course... Pharma Marketing Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1990798 Tue, 25 Nov 2008 13:28:00 +0100 1990798 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1551366&cid=t_101016_150_f&fid=34889&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpharmamkting.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F06%2Fbattered-woman-imagery-in-pfizers-new.html Pfizer has recently upped the stakes in its campaign to depict fibromyalgia as a "real" medical condition. In an non-branded "disease awareness" TV ad that I saw last night, this point was hammered home by images of a woman showing black and blue bruises over her body. She says something like "Maybe if people saw me this way, they will believe that fibromyalgia is a real medical condition." What I saw were disturbing images reminiscent of battered woman syndrome. The whole thing smacked of desperation on Pfizer's part to sell more drugs and represents DTC advertising sinking to a new low in exploiting women's fears! I was not able to capture an image of the woman from my TV, so I am using the image above left that I found at the Medical Advocates/Battered Women web site. It accurately c... Pharma Marketing Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1551366 Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:21:00 +0100 1551366 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1405332&cid=t_101016_87_f&fid=34765&url=http%3A%2F%2Fhcrenewal.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F04%2Fblogscan-disease-mongering-and.html On the Bioethics Forum, Dr Adriane Fugh-Berman and Dr Douglas Melnick discuss what appears to be the latest example of disease-mongering. An article in the Annals of Internal Medicine, written by authors with ties to companies that make pharmaceuticals for smoking cessation, argued that tobacco addiction should be reclassified as a chronic disease, such that patients should be expected to be on smoking cessation products indefinitely. Such indefinite use, of course, is unsupported by clinical evidence, but would create a huge new market for these drugs. (Source: Health Care Renewal) Health Care Renewal blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1405332 Mon, 28 Apr 2008 20:17:00 +0100 1405332 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1265302&cid=t_101016_150_f&fid=35779&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pharmamanufacturing.com%2Fonpharma%2F%3Fp%3D1491 Some news releases bring out my inner cynic.  Like today’s news that FDA has just approved AstraZeneca’s Nexium for that grossly underserved population:  patients whose digestive systems are not yet formed, yet who show signs of having the dreaded gastroesophageal reflux disease, or GERD.   I realize that there are babies who have GERD out there.  But [...] (Source: On Pharma) On Pharma blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1265302 Thu, 28 Feb 2008 17:49:12 +0100 1265302 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1207372&cid=t_101016_150_f&fid=34889&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpharmamkting.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F02%2Fmaking-fun-of-pharma-marketing-is-easy.html I've just returned from a few days vacation on the beach in Sunny Isles, Florida and I haven't yet recovered from the Motivational Deficiency Disorder (MDD) symptoms that resulted!Haven't heard about MDD? You might want to take a look at the following video produced by the folks at Consumers International (CI) . The video explains what MDD is, how it's treated, and -- most importantly -- how one pharmaceutical company markets Strivor, its new MDD treatment:I particularly like the part about 4 minutes into this video where the good doctor talks about clinical trial results on sloths."You've seen nothing," says the doctor who invented Strivor, "until you've seen a sloth that's motivated, I'll tell you!"Ba Boom!Ha, Ha, Ha.The anti-pharma marketing shenanigans of CI have only recently caught t... Pharma Marketing Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1207372 Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:50:00 +0100 1207372 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1149834&cid=t_101016_150_f&fid=35777&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FPharmalot%2F%7E3%2F216412438%2F Is fibromyalgia an example of disease mongering? A new TV ad campaign for Pfizer’s Lyrica, the first med approved to treat the pain condition, argues the affliction is real. But some docs are questioning whether fibromyalgia even exists, The New York Times writes. For patient advocacy groups and doctors who specialize in fibromyalgia, the Lyrica approval is a milestone. They say they hope Lyrica and two other drugs that may be approved this year will legitimize fibromyalgia, just as Prozac brought depression into the mainstream. “What’s going to happen with fibromyalgia is going to be the exact thing that happened to depression with Prozac,” Dan Clauw, a professor of medicine at the University of Michigan, who has consulted with Pfizer and two other drugmakers hoping to market... Pharmalot blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1149834 Mon, 14 Jan 2008 12:50:56 +0100 1149834 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1030141&cid=t_101016_150_f&fid=34889&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpharmamkting.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F11%2Famitiza-dtc-ads-wont-win-any-awards-but.html While in a hospital outpatient waiting area last week I was forced to watch "The View" on one of the ubiquitous overhead flat screen TVs that seem to be everywhere these days. Whoopi Goldberg was talking about the "ultimate gift" a mother could give a pregnancy-challenged daughter -- implanting her daughter's embryo in her uterus and delivering her child -- when she was rudely interrupted by the new Amitiza DTC ad.For those of you who haven't heard, Amitiza is an anti-constipation drug being marketed by Takeda, the folks that bring you Rozerem and Actos. If you believe what you read on Cafe Pharma, Amitiza, which was developed by Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. -- a drug company I never head of -- is Takeda's #2 selling product (I assume Actos is #1 because Rozerem sure as hell isn't).I can ... Pharma Marketing Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1030141 Thu, 15 Nov 2007 18:30:00 +0100 1030141 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=744829&cid=t_101016_150_f&fid=34889&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpharmamkting.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F07%2Frls-gene-story-requip-ad-disguised-as.html I couldn't believe my eyes and my ears last night when ABC News devoted significant air time to a story that it claimed "will put an end to criticism of Restless leg Syndrome" or something to that effect.[I wish I had the video to prove to you that was exactly how this story was introduced. I need a TiVO if I am going to continue in this business!]In reality, this "news" item was a direct to consumer ad (DTC) for Requip, except without the fair balance! Prominently featured in the opening segment of the ad, er, I mean "news story," were clips from the infamous Requip ads showing the specially-made green chair and a physician mouthing the single word "Requip."Contrary to ABC News's prediction viz-a-viz shutdown of criticism, there is so much to criticize here that I am at a loss where to be... Pharma Marketing Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=744829 Thu, 19 Jul 2007 12:37:00 +0100 744829 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=658891&cid=t_101016_150_f&fid=34889&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpharmamkting.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F06%2Fgsks-youtube-disease-awareness.html Recently, I challenged pharmaceutical marketers to embrace Web 2.0 technologies and even to incorporate consumer YouTube-like videos in their direct-to-consumer (DTC) ads (see, for example, "YouPharma(tm): A Brave New World of Marketing?" and "YouPharma: New Rules for Pharma Marketing and Social Media"; BTW, take our online reader survey and get this reprint FREE!).It now appears that GlaxoSmithkline (GSK) is the first pharmaceutical company to take me up on my challenge, albeit not in the DTC arena but as an unbranded, sponsored, Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) disease-awareness YouTube video.You can click on this image to see the video.Actually, this video ("My Dad has Restless Leg Syndrome"), which has been viewed more than 73,000 times, was uploaded to YouTube in October, 2006. Therefore, ... Pharma Marketing Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=658891 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 11:17:00 +0100 658891 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=563590&cid=t_101016_150_f&fid=34889&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpharmamkting.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F04%2Famericans-skeptical-of-pharma-cause.html As Congress considers banning direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising or at least giving the FDA the power to place a 2- or 3-year moratorium on DTC for new drugs (see "Bill Could Block Some Ads for New Drugs"), the industry is gravitating towards more unbranded disease awareness marketing (aka "cause marketing") programs. Pfizer, for example, is on record saying that it will spend at least as much on such programs in one year as it would on a typical branded DTC campaign.Pharma disease awareness campaigns can take many forms, one of which is giving "buckets of cash" (aka "educational grants") to patient advocacy groups such as the American Heart Association and other, lesser-known, patient groups. Pharma is also known to create such groups de novo (see "Restless Pharma Marketing"). Disease a... Pharma Marketing Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=563590 Mon, 23 Apr 2007 11:50:00 +0100 563590 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=471966&cid=t_101016_150_f&fid=34768&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpharmagossip.blogspot.com%2F2007%2F03%2Fadhd-medicalising-childhood.html The psychiatrist who identified attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) - the condition blamed for the bad behaviour of hundreds of thousands of children - has admitted that many may not really be ill. Dr Robert Spitzer said that up to 30 per cent of youngsters classified as suffering from disruptive and hyperactive conditions could have been misdiagnosed. Dr Spitzer, professor of psychiatry at Columbia University in New York, now says the classification led to many people being diagnosed as medically disordered when their mood swings and behaviour were simply normal feelings of happiness and sadness. In a BBC2 documentary series The Trap, which begins on Sunday, he says that between 20 and 30 per cent of mental disorder diagnoses may be incorrect. His admission comes as figure... PharmaGossip blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=471966 Tue, 13 Mar 2007 11:11:00 +0100 471966 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=482195&cid=t_101016_118_f&fid=34973&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmed-biz-wiz.livejournal.com%2F11482.html In an interesting twist, I found several articles on the same subject, all triggered by a new scientific congress planned soon. The subject: Disease-Mongering. The culprits: All of us. Fond as I am of capitalism, left to our own devices we can arrive at amazingly non-optimum solutions through the 'hidden hand' of the market. Like the medicalization of everything, today's topic. If you are running a med biz, beware, the backlash is finally starting. Thankfully. Because we are in a business called "ethical" we should all try harder to think and work ethically. It's a crazy idea, but maybe we should pay more attention to the first word in the phrase, "Enlightened self-interest." The Inaugural Conference on Disease-Mongering, April 11 to 13 in Newcastle, Australia. In a world of escalating hea... unAudited blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=482195 Thu, 13 Apr 2006 18:37:01 +0100 482195