title: Disease-mongering through clinical trials.
abstract: Our goal in this paper is to articulate a precise concept of at least a certain kind of disease-mongering, showing how pharmaceutical marketing can commercially exploit certain diseases when their best definition is given through the success of a treatment in a clinical trial. We distinguish two types of disease-mongering according to the way they exploit the definition of the trial population for marketing purposes. We argue that behind these two forms of disease-mongering there are two well-known problems in the statistical methodology of clinical trials (the reference class problem and the distinction between statistical and clinical significance). Overcoming them is far from simple.
authors: Dpto. Ciencias Médicas Básicas, Universidad San Pablo-CEU, Spain.
authors: María
authors: M
authors: González-Moreno
authors: Dpto. de Lógica, Historia y Filosofía de la ciencia, UNED, Paseo de senda del rey 7, 28040 Madrid, Spain.
authors: Cristian
authors: C
authors: Saborido
authors: Dpto. de Lógica, Historia y Filosofía de la ciencia, UNED, Paseo de senda del rey 7, 28040 Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: dteira@fsof.uned.es.
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Teira
mesh_terms: D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents / Q000266:history; D001007:Anxiety / Q000266:history; D035843:Biomedical Research; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000266:history; D002784:Cholesterol; D003975:Diazepam / Q000266:history; D004345:Drug Industry / Q000266:history; D049673:History, 20th Century; D049674:History, 21st Century; D006801:Humans; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors / Q000266:history; D040541:Marketing; D062528:Medicalization / Q000266:history; D018579:Patient Selection
chemical_list: D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors; D002784:Cholesterol; D003975:Diazepam
keywords: Clinical trials; Disease-mongering; Reference class problem; Statins; Statistical significance; Valium