i will comment as i please.

To: Pharma Marketing

I've never considered the consequences resulting from disease awareness or support campaigns. If what you say is true, that “with each live saved by a mammogram- five to fifteen other women become needlessly diagnosed”, then my concern won't be limited to the month of October during Breast Cancer awareness, but every month of the year. If you haven't noticed, there is a month set aside for almost every kind of illness. Aids awareness is the month of December, Lupus during the month of May, and TB during the month of March just to name a few.

Does that mean that with each passing month, hundreds to thousands of patients are doomed to be needlessly or incorrectly diagnosed? Not only is the government wasting valuable resources for those who actually require screening, it does more harm than good to patients. If that’s the case a new approach to patient education and awareness is critical. In spite of this, I don’t mean to stop fighting for the cause all together because I myself have family and friends who benefit greatly from the month of October. The funds raised are incredible and really helps to lift their spirits.  But these campaigns need to be regulated and the media needs to take on the responsibility of informing the public that the month of October shouldn’t be a month of looking for the illness, but instead fighting it.

-J

To: Eye on FDA

I’ve only just entered the pharma industry – focusing more on the pharm and less on the industry. But I couldn’t help reading after I saw the words Twitter. It’s interesting to see that pharma companies are entering this new age of technological advancement where social media has completely changed the normal avenues of communication. What ever happened to email and phone calls? “Twitter feeds” and “Retwittering” is just a bizarre concept for companies as regulated and strict as pharmaceutical companies and the FDA.

But I understand how the media and public relations department of pharma co. can reap the benefits of using twitter. It is probably the fastest way to get information out allowing for an endless list of “followers.” Yet some may argue, informal and unprofessional. Nevertheless, I would be interested in following FDARecalls myself and ask all my colleagues to follow as well. Who knows, maybe we’ll find it innovate and start our own. 

-J