Trio

Hello World.

So tell me, what do you think J&J should do about that recall scandal? Fight or flight? Or maybe what is the next best step Pfizer can take with their failed miracle PTSD drug? Invest more or just chuck it and start over?

Now imagine sitting in a room before a panel of people trying to b.s. your way out of those questions at a graduate school interview or even job interview. And while these people are waiting for your well thought out response; there's people outside just waiting for you to choke. But what can you say when you have no idea what the heck the J&J scandal is, and wasn’t even aware Pfizer had a PTSD drug on the market.  Well then it’s going to be a long, awkward, and uncomfortable interview. These people, they’re testing you. They want to know just how caught up you are with the current events in today’s health care industry, after all that is what you are trying to get into. And if you can’t produce some witty intelligent response, then you should be ashamed. Entering a field you know nothing about? I suggest you better get started on those search engine runs.

Or. You can stay, and let me make your life that much easier.

Filter. Filter. Filter.

I will be sifting through every search engine you can possibly think of looking for the most interesting, most relevant, and most important articles to write about; recalls, drug violations, ethics versus financial gain and so on. But more importantly, I’m not going to just hurl information at you. Instead, I will be focusing on relevant events—drawing on academic inferences to keep you in the loop. You may ask, what makes me qualified to write? Well, at least I’m aiming for my bachelors in science and I also know how to answer the J&J and Pfizer questions. Which is probably more than I can say for you. But no need to worry. You’ll be an expert before you know it. This will be the first blog you come across that caters to… well, anyone who wants to know what’s going on in the world really, but more specifically, students and young professionals in or entering the health sciences. And also just people who want to have intelligent and insightful conversations about drug companies and how they have turned healthcare into a multi-billion dollar capitalistic industry. But most of all, I’ll save you the trouble of running head first into a profession you know absolutely nothing about.

This is going to be your one stop shop to keep up to date on the current events in the pharmaceutical industry. And if you decide to follow up on my daily reports you will have so much more to say, you’ll blow your colleagues away and you just might decide to start your own blog, like me.

-J

Not your typical kind of GOSSIP

After 19 years on the market, Avastin by Genentech will face its final scrutiny on September 17^th. On that Friday the FDA will tell Genentech either they have wasted millions of dollars in breast cancer research or applaud them with the long waited approval of a new drug to the market. No one really knows what the FDA will decide- sometimes I wonder if the decision is made as they walk through the doors of the conference room.

But in any case, this story is exactly the type of thing that keeps me coming back to Pharmagossip, short and sweet interesting updates on what is happening with some of the drugs on the market. Although pharma gossip seems like an outsider to the pharmaceutical world, his insights are thought provoking and material rare. His articles are very uncommon, and definitely pieces I wouldn’t come across when running around in yahoo or google. And the best feature of pharmagossip is his ability to update frequently (as frequent as a few posts in a single day). It seems in the last decade Avastin went through several clinical trials and received approval from the FDA to be administered for colon and lung cancer treatment. Toying with possibilities of treating other cancers, Genentech began thinking of administering Avastin for breast cancer treatment. However FDA officials welcomed this decision with a lukewarm reception only granting “accelerated temporary approval.”

And what is “temporary approval“ even suppose to mean? Use the drug now, but enjoy the side effects of near death experience later? Well, that is just ridiculous. Unfortunately, the FDA’s decision is the only decision that matters, so I hope for the sake of all the mothers, sisters, and friends out there, the trials and testing goes well. I’ll keep my fingers crossed on Sept. 17^th.

          Now let’s turn our heads to some of the politics faced in this industry of ethics and morals versus financial gain. Less than two weeks ago Dr. Joseph Hammag defended himself and Pfizer against allegations of swindling. A conference was arranged solely to discuss the so-called unavoidable illegal activity that sometimes take place in the drug industry. Here’s the CliffsNotes version of the white-collar crime. Drug reps from pharmaceutical manufacturers scout out doctors and essentially anyone with a prescription pad and persuade them to prescribe drugs for treatments that have yet to be approved by the FDA. And what’s in it for the doctors you say? Well, their bank accounts mysteriously receive a new cash flow that cannot be explained by their fixed annual salaries. But anyhow, what I ultimately wanted to say is thanks PharmaGossip, for letting me know the pharm industry has some pretty morally bankrupt individuals. I’ll do my best to steer clear of them next year.

            Intellectually stimulating and a great attention to detail are just a few ways I’d describe PharmaGossip. While gossip probably not, I’d argue entertaining and informative. As I begin my own blog, I intend to use Pharmagossip as a starting foundation. I’ll add things here and there, and take away some of the unnecessary fluff. I would also probably go with a more personal touch and express my opinions with more bang. After all, responses to my spiel would be quite exciting.  And I’ll attempt to cater to a larger audience and not just the stay at home moms and unemployed.  Maybe I’ll even make it to Technorati. Just you wait.

            -J

Voice. Speak and be Heard.

The average Joe with a relatively average IQ would probably not find long monotonous articles interesting to read. And yet the average Joe seems to be part of the audience I am aiming for. So how do I get Joe to read what I write? How do I get him to read through not just the first few lines but also be able to tolerate the rest?

Well, I can always mesmerize him with my voice.

There are emotions I wish to convey in my writing, and certain responses I hope for in return. I want to cultivate intimacy while maintaining a certain amount of anonymity when Joe goes through my posts. As I sift through pharmacy related blogs on the web I have come some across several forms of writing. Some bloggers prefer to use vulgar and crude language to invoke a feeling of authenticity, while other writer’s refrain from using profanity at all costs. They incorporate more sophisticated and witty expressions to communicate their emotions. I find the analytical and refined blogger’s use of idioms and play on words very clever and exciting to read.   

Ultimately wit outperforms slang.

The first thing that caught my attention on Pharmablogger was the play on words in the title “Do you recall..?” Instead of assessing your memory ability the writer actually meant, “recall,” as in the long disgusting process of taking back from the consumer what was already sold to them.  More specifically she was alluding to the recall of “Johnson & Johnson / McNeil’s Tylenol products.” She immediately jumps right into the article and provides not one but several links to her sources to establish her credibility. Then as you scroll through the post you will find she highlights the points of the recall and spices up her post using exclamations like “WOW!” The WOW was referring to the $820 thousand J&J saved by switching bottle suppliers. I WOW-ed too.  To top it off, she closes up her post with witty sarcasm -  

“So if you’re a J&J stockholder, you might want to let him know how much you appreciate the savings, unless you think the (currently) estimated $1.2 billion in lost sales…, overshadow that $820 large.”

If I were a J&J stockholder, I’d be bitching about the $1.2 billion dollar loss, and could care less about the $820 thousand saved.

Next we should consider the post “Not a good week for AZ….” Pharmablogger finds yet another way to keep Joe attentive. Plain language. In her post she uses a single complex sentence and a block quote while skipping out on the use of similes and metaphors. She writes: “Astra Zeneca loses patent case against Dr. Reddy’s, and then has to cough up court costs.” I’m not sure if you caught that, but “cough up” is a clever way of saying pay up. Her use of just one sentence to describe the courtcase is simple and refined.  What I liked most was her use of a block quote, and how she titled it “my favorite passage.” She personalized it to ensure us she is not just a robot behind a desk regurgitating what she finds. She actually has a mind of her own.

When I picture Pharmablogger I get the image of a white-coated middle-aged woman sitting at a lab desk surfing the web. Her unique writing style combined with her quick remarks makes her blog interesting and easy to read. It keeps Joe sitting at the edge of his seat wanting more.

-J