[The Scourge of Yazid]

I'm always skeptical of claims made by drug companies. How does Pfizer know that 70% of men or 40% of women experience sexual dysfunction on a regular basis?

And how did clinical Depression become something that almost anyone is susceptible to?

It's gotten so bad that they're treating people for 'extreme shyness.' What the hell does that mean? I love watching those commercials that show this incredibly skittish woman inching away from other people at a party. Did anyone ever stop to think that maybe those people were pains in the ass, who she just didn't want to socialize with?

[megatherium]

Pfizer probably bases these figures on phase three drug trials. Thousands of patients are given the drug, thousands of patients are given placebo. This is done double-blind, so neither patients nor doctors know who is getting what. Then the study is "unblinded" and the statisticians determine whether the drug was safe and whether it is effective. This is written up in an expensive package, tied with a nice bowtie, and presented to the FDA for approval.

So it is true that most of the time, it is the drug companies that provide the research that verifies the safety and effectiveness of their drugs. Occasionally, this system is abused. But there is hell to pay if a drug company abuses its trust with the FDA, and usually they are very careful.

The marketing of drugs is where the companies come close to crossing the line. They figure out new uses for old drugs, such as "social anxiety disorder" for antidepressents. But even there, I believe they need to back up assertions with clinical studies. By the way, doctors sometimes prescribe drugs "off-label", for maladies the drugs are not intended to treat. Perfectly legal, though your insurance company is unlikely to pay for it.