A case of critical thinking: Marketing strategies used to promote licensed drugs

The UK Government has stressed the need to question and challenge the actions of drug companies and the effect they may have on patients. A report by the House of Commons (HoC) Health Select Committee on The Infl uence of the Pharmaceutical Industry noted that it was important ‘to examine critically the industry’s impact on health to guard against excessive and damaging dependencies’ (HoC 2005: 97). Given ‘profi t-maximization’ is drug companies’ main purpose, while patients strive for the ‘optimisation of drugs’ benefi t-risk ratios’ (Abraham 2008: 869), this called for a case of critical thinking.