Branding illness

An eye-opening documentary about how big drug companies create diseases and then supply the medications that can cure them. It's a reversal of the traditional approach — trying to discover a drug that cures an illness — and one that relies far more heavily on marketing than research.

Featuring at times acerbic commentary from experts including physicians, historians and medical anthropologists, Branding Illness offers unprecedented insight into the ways illnesses and their potential cures are marketed. No claim seems too outrageous — whether it's convincing the Japanese they have widespread depression, urging millions of healthy adults they need medication to lower their cholesterol, or even proposing that all adults over 50 take a ‘poly-pill’ to lower their risk of common diseases.

Due to copyright restrictions, this video can only be viewed on RT’s live feed. Time of broadcast is available on RT’s schedule page