[Doctor Knock lives at Wall Street. The new targets of pharmaceutical industry].
BACKGROUND
The aim of this paper is to inform clinicians about some new commercial practices of the pharmaceutical industry.


METHODS
Drug promotion nowadays involves sophisticated marketing strategies, in which the prescribing physician is not necessarily a central actor. Pharmaceutical advertising is more and more directed towards the general public (consumers), contributes to define and popularise disease categories, and encourages the medicalisation of everyday life.


CONCLUSIONS
Doctors should be aware of the consequences of these new commercial strategies.
Cathébras
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Service de médecine interne, hôpital Nord, 42055 Saint-Etienne cedex 2, France. pascal.cathebras@chu-st-etienne.fr
D000329:Advertising; D003256:Community Participation; D004345:Drug Industry; D006801:Humans; D008402:Mass Media; D010819:Physician's Role; D011639:Public Opinion