The head of Merck, one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, Henry Gadsden told Fortune magazine thirty years ago that he wanted Merck to be more like companies such as Wrigley chewing gum. He said making medicine for a healthy person had been his dream for years so Merck could "sell it to everyone." Today, Gadsden's dream has become a reality, and marketing to healthy people is now the driving force behind one of the most profitable products. industries of the world. Pharmaceutical companies are systematically working to expand the very boundaries that define disease using their dominant powers of persuasion in the world of medical science. Old conditions are expanding, new ones are being created, and drug markets are expanding even further. Mild problems are redefined as serious illnesses and common complaints are labeled as medical problems requiring drug treatments. Common examples of this can be seen when runny nose is now allergic rhinitis, premenstrual syndrome has become a psychiatric disorder, and hyperactive children suffer from attention deficit disorder. These advertisers and marketers are recently labeling people with high cholesterol or low bone density as “at risk” for a disease in themselves. This book, Selling Sickness: How the World's Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies Are Turning Us All into Patients, shows how expanding disease boundaries and lowering treatment thresholds are creating millions of new patients. As a direct result, billions of dollars in profits go to pharmaceutical companies. This change could revolutionize healthcare systems around the world. As daily life becomes more and more medical and people's perspectives are skewed, the pharmaceutical industry is moving closer to the concept of "selling to everyone." Selling Sickness reveals the marketing techniques of the world's largest and most powerful pharmaceutical companies. These industries are now aggressively targeting healthy and healthy households and individuals across the world. Promotional campaigns are used to exploit some of man's deepest fears: death, disease and infirmity. The $500 billion pharmaceutical industry is virtually changing what it means to be human. Pharmaceutical companies have been rightly rewarded for saving millions of lives and reducing suffering, but this book argues that lines are crossed between the sick, the commodity and the healthy. In today's age, where the average lifespan has increased and people enjoy healthier, more vital lives, intense advertising and "awareness" campaigns are turning worried people into worried sick people..