lifestyle drug

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

from Alex Frankel, Word Craft: The Art of Turning Little Words Into Big
Business (NY: Crown, 2004), p. 144, just after the introduction of the
term "lifestyle drug", in connection with the naming of drugs:

-----
Traditional medical applications are concerned wit treating,
controlling, or reducing the risk of serious medical conditions like
high cholesterol, heart disease, and diabetes.  Lifestyle drugs treat
physical presentation (like dental care, acne, aging, hair loss, and
weight control), performance (mental concentration in the workplace,
stress reduction, sexual performance), and general well-being (pain
reduction, mood regulation, incontinence).  Lifestyle drugs can make
people's lives feel happier and more content (though not necessarily by
curing a serious medical condition).  Based on what they treat,
lifestyle drugs have necessarily led naming trends in a more conceptual
direction.
-----

i didn't find "lifestyle drug" in the recent ADS archives, nor in a
google search for "lifestyle drug" in combination with "Nunberg" (geoff
nunberg having written several times on "lifestyle").  frankel reports
that the term "comes up frequently in the literature around modern
pharmaceuticals" (p. 143).

arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu)