Biography
Alan Cassels has been immersed in pharmaceutical policy research and healthcare journalism for 30 years, with a focus on how prescription drugs are regulated, marketed, prescribed and used. He believes that humans need clean, clear health information as urgently as they need clean water. Cassels niche is in examining the gaps between the marketing and the science around regulated drugs (including vaccines) and medical screening, often focusing on the forces of disease creation.
Cassels has engaged with orthomolecular medicine through his writing and journalism, notably in a way that highlights its marginalization by conventional medicine. In a 2009 article for Common Ground, titled “A Salute to Abram Hoffer,” he paid tribute to the pioneer of orthomolecular medicine who lived and worked in Victoria until his death. The resulting article explored why orthomolecular approaches struggled for acceptance. He noted Hoffer’s use of high-dose vitamin B-3 (niacin) to treat schizophrenia in the 1950s, suggesting that its sidelining coincided with the rise of newer, patentable psychiatric drugs—a theme aligning with Cassels’ broader critique of pharmaceutical industry influences in medicine.
Alan Cassels’ books include Selling Sickness: How the World’s Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies are Turning us All into Patients (2005), The ABCs of Disease Mongering: An Epidemic in 26 Letters (2007), and Seeking Sickness: Medical Screening and the Misguided Hunt for Disease (2012).
Publications
Ben-Eltriki, M., Cassels, A., Erviti, J., & Wright, J. M. (2021). Why we need a single independent international hypertension clinical practice guideline. Hypertension Research, 44(8), 1037–1039. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41440-021-00666-6
Cassels, A., & Law, M. R. (2019). The impact of the introduction of a formulary into a large Canadian private drug plan: An interrupted time-series analysis. CMAJ Open, 7(3), E472–E477. https://doi.org/10.9778/cmajo.20180124
Chappell, N., Cassels, A., Outcalt, L., & Dujela, C. (2016). Conflict of interest in pharmaceutical policy research: An example from Canada. International Journal of Health Governance, 21(2), 66–75. https://doi.org/[DOI if available]
Cassels, A. (2015). The Cochrane Collaboration: Medicine’s best-kept secret. Agio Publishing House.
Cassels, A. (2012). Seeking sickness: Medical screening and the misguided hunt for disease. Greystone Books.
Cassels, A., Van Wiltenburg, J., & Armstrong, W. (2009). What’s in a scan: How well are consumers informed about the benefits and harms related to screening technology (CT and PET scans) in Canada? Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
Cassels, A., Gordaneer, A., & Gordaneer, J. (2007). The ABC’s of disease mongering: An epidemic in 26 letters. EmDash Press.
Cassels, A., & Lexchin, J. (2007). Potential savings from therapeutic substitution of ten of Canada’s most dispensed prescription drugs. In N. J. Temple (Ed.), Excessive medical spending: Facing the challenge (pp. [page numbers if available]). Radcliffe Publishing.
Cassels, A., & Temple, N. J. (2007). Paying for what works: The Reference Drug Program as a model for rational policy making. In N. J. Temple (Ed.), Excessive medical spending: Facing the challenge (pp. [page numbers if available]). Radcliffe Publishing.
Moynihan, R., & Cassels, A. (2005). Selling sickness: How the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies are turning us all into patients. Greystone Books.
Cassels, A., Hughes, M. A., Cole, C., Mintzes, B., Lexchin, J., & McCormack, J. (2003). Drugs in the news: How well do Canadian newspapers report the good, the bad and the ugly of new prescription drugs? Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
