Table 2 Some key aspects of pharmaceuticalisation as formulated by Williams and co-workers [29]

Pharmaceuticalisation…

… is a complex, heterogenous socio-technical process involving the discovery, development, commercialization, use and governance of pharmaceutical products centred around chemistry-based technology

… is about the translation or transformation of human conditions, capabilities and capacities into opportunities for pharmaceutical intervention

… may extend beyond the strictly medical to the non-medical (i.e., to “healthy” people)

… entails a network of institutions, organisations, actors and artefacts, as well as the cognitive structures associated with the creation, production and use of new therapeutics

… is centred on the chemistry-based technology embodied in the pill