This Thursday, April 30, 2009 photo shows pharmacist Ephrem Degefu as he mixes medication at his Coastal Compounding Pharmacy in West Palm Beach, Fla. Compounding pharmacies, thousands of which operate nationwide, have attracted recent attention.
Pharmaceuticalization is a term used for describing the intervention of pharmaceuticals in order to treat social, behavioral, or bodily conditions. The need for treatment can be deemed necessary by either the doctor or the patient, or sometimes both. (nih.gov) Pharmaceuticalization involves not only aspects needed by the unhealthy but by health people to enhance their lifestyles in a not necessarily medical way. This process is perpetuated by what has been dubbed the “pharmaceutical regime” which is a complex system comprised of institutions to develop and produced new pharmaceutical products (Goodman 93). This term has been used to describe a general increased of awareness of diseases and illnesses.
There are numerous ways that the pharmaceutical regime impacts our society today. First and foremost are the drug markets themselves. Since the 1980s, the sale of drugs as a percentage of GDP tripled within the following two decades (Williams 21). The sale distribution worldwide is more concentrated to the wealthier countries, partly due to the fact that its members live longer and require more medication.
The expansion of the markets is in part due to the marketization of diseases by pharmaceutical companies (Moynihan 2002: 886). The companies are reconstructing the social idea of illness and building a more corporate idea of illness designed to target both consumers and prescribers and expand their idea of what needs to be treated. For example, mundane maladies can be transformed into urgent medical problems by exaggerating its severity. In addition, personal problems can be reconstructed so that it seems like a medical one (Williams 21). Because of all the disease mongering, drug companies can be blamed for commercializing sickness to the public.
This market expansion has been instigated by direct-to-customer—for short known as DTC—advertising. Previously, pharmaceutical companies used to market their products to healthcare professionals because they were the ones that would ultimately be distrusting their products, but because of pharmaceuticalization and the expansion of the drug market, companies have now switched to DTC advertising. This form of advertising allowed pharmaceutical companies to market their products directly to potential customers through mainstream media, which is unique to New Zealand and the United States because it is banned in other countries (Williams 22). Pharmaceutical companies now view patients as consumers, and they market their products in the way that they think will make the highest profit. This change has contributed to the pharmaceutical regime because these companies are expanding what conditions can be medicated and who can take their drugs. In fact, it is predicted that by 2020, the purchase of pharmaceutical drugs will constitute approximately one fifth of the total gross domestic product of the United States Economy (Dumit). This is a staggering statistic that reveals the extent of the impact of pharmaceuticalisation on society, identity, and the economy.
Figure above is an example of DTC advertising.
This phenomenon has also led to different social identities. Consumers’ can find their identity by relating to a group of people who have had similar experiences, and many people find their identity based on their diagnosis and how it affects their lives. People with a similar diagnosis, from themselves or their doctors, can be going through the same treatments, and this can influence how they view the rest of their experiences. In addition, the role of patients had grown increasingly in their own healthcare (Williams 25). With DTC advertising and the internet, patients are now able to self-diagnosis themselves, and advocate for their treatment or medication type in their doctor’s office. Furthermore, the concept of normal healthcare has expanded due to pharmaceuticalization; drugs are being use in new markets for non-medical uses (Williams 26). Social identities are being shaped by this expansion because enhancements are available for consumer purchase such as face lifts or botox. These items are not strictly needed in a medical sense, but they have been commercialized and advertised to the community as a party of this process. In fact, it is believed that society’s perception of itself as chronically ill is the causation of increased healthcare as well as increased use of pharmaceutical drugs. Furthermore, there is an idea of risk that a person has to disease, and this risk necessitates the use of medical treatment (Dumit). Yet, because risk is chronic, that means that treatments can go on endlessly, and the pharmaceutical companies exploit this fear and perception.
Pharmaceuticalization is important because it has changed the everyday life of people because pharmaceutical companies have turned common aspects into medical problems to expand the drug market. While pharmaceuticalization has expanded rapidly in past decades, it is important to recognize that there are limits to which the companies can operate because of government control and because the companies still rely on medical professional for legitimization (Williams 29). In addition, there has been further resistance from the public, patients, government and media.
Bibliography
Dumit, Joseph. 2012. Drugs for life: how pharmaceutical companies define our health. Duke University Press.
Goodman, J. and Walsh W. 1993. Little and Big Heuristics: medicine, chemistry and the pharmaceutical production in nineteenth-century Europe. Paper given at Society for the History of Technology (SHOT), Conference on Technological Change, Oxford. September 1993.
Moynihan, R. 2002. Disease-mongering: how doctors, drug companies, and insurers are making you feel sick. British Medical Journal.
Williams, Simon J, Paul Martin and Jonathan Gabe. 2015. Pharmaceuticalisation of Society? A Framework for Analysis. In The Pharmaceutical Studies Reader. Eds. Sergio Sismondo and Jeremy A. Greene.
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