Who decides what constitutes a disease and what is normality? Over the centuries such decisions have been the preserve of the medical profession, aided more recently by modern medical science. But the profession has grown too close to those who profit from developing drugs for new diseases and is no longer fit to make these decisions. This in brief is Ray Moynihan’s thesis, developed over years of reporting on the relationship between doctors and the drug industry, and vigorously reprised in this week’s journal (doi:10.1136/bmj.c4442).

Moynihan’s target this time is prehypertension, a condition that along with preosteoporosis and prediabetes has the potential …