Big Bucks, Big Pharma: Marketing Disease & Pushing Drugs

As today's baby boomers enter their senior years, the profits of large pharmaceutical companies—here nicknamed "big pharma"—are likely to continue to soar (currently, annual industry sales are at $550 billion). Even so, these drug companies are still under pressure from company shareholders, and have launched "direct to consumer" aggressive advertising campaigns designed to create brand awareness and loyalties by encouraging consumers to "ask your doctor" about drugs. According to this documentary, "big pharma" is guilty of disease mongering, creating a culture of the "worried well" by saturating the market with "me too" drugs, retooling old drugs, and changing the numbers defining high blood pressure and high cholesterol, while also promoting obscure diseases such as restless leg syndrome and various anxiety disorders. In this heady atmosphere of building profits at any cost, Big Bucks, Big Pharma notes that the safety of drugs is often misrepresented, with consumers taking medications either unnecessarily or inappropriately, which sometimes lead to fatal side effects or suicides. Industry watchdogs and a few former big pharma representatives interviewed here describe a corporate culture in which salespeople flood conventions, conferences, and doctor's offices, providing free drug samples—in effect making doctors pitchmen and enablers rather than health care providers. The program concludes with a call for increased consumer awareness and more congressional oversight. While lots of clips from familiar drug ads are shown, no actual industry spokespersons appear here, although interviewees include a number of academics and author Katharine Greider (The Big Fix: How the Pharmaceutical Industry Rips Off American Consumers). Although it may date quickly, this is recommended overall. Aud: C, P. (S. Rees)