Lifestyle drug
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Lifestyle drugs is a derogatory term for drugs that detractors claim are created to improve the patient's quality of life by addressing relatively minor non-life threatening conditions such as head colds, headaches, baldness, impotence, wrinkles, and obesity. Antidepressants are also sometimes called lifestyle drugs.
Through the ages, many individuals suffering from conditions that are a normal part of the human condition (e.g. acne, baldness and impotency) have sought treatment for these conditions, and manufacturers of medicines have responded to their needs.
Some social critics question the propriety of devoting huge research budgets towards creating these drugs when far more dangerous diseases like cancer and AIDS remain uncured. It is sometimes claimed that lifestyle drugs amount to little more than medically sanctioned recreational drug use. Proponents however point out that improving the patient's subjective quality of life has always been a primary concern of medicine, and argue that these drugs are doing just that.
A fundamental problem with the usage of the term is the subjectivity of what is considered a lifestyle drug, the implication being that they respond to less important medical needs.
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