Health

Roche's Cancer Front Group Flounders

by Bob Burton — October 22, 2006 - 4:52am

Cancer United, a cancer patient group created and launched by the PR firm Weber Shandwick with funding from the drug company Roche, has got off to a rocky start. On its website the group states that it aims to run an 18-month-long campaign for more uniform cancer treatments across the European Union.

Main Source: 
Guardian (UK), October 20, 2006

Ex-FDA Commissioner Turned Lobbyist Pleads Guilty

by Bob Burton — October 20, 2006 - 5:19am

The former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Lester Crawford, has pleaded guilty to breaching conflict of interest rules. Crawford and his wife held between $188,000 and $336,000 in shares in four companies that he was required to have sold, under FDA rules.

Main Source: 
Washington Post, October 17, 2006

"Equal Rights" Ad Promotes Black Lungs

by Anne Landman — October 19, 2006 - 11:07am

The September 2006 issue of a Denver area LGBT magazine, MetroMode, carries a curious full-page ad titled "Busting the Myths of Smoke-Free Colorado" that urges readers to protest Colorado's Clean Indoor Air Act, the law that ended smoking in most workplaces (including bars and restaurants) as of July 1, 2006.

Main Source: 
MetroMode, September 2006

Pink Ribbons Mean Healthy Sales

by Diane Farsetta — October 16, 2006 - 6:20pm

This October is the 26th annual Breast Cancer Awareness month, an event "conceived by the pharmaceutical company Zeneca, now AstraZeneca ...

Main Source: 
Star Tribune (Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN), October 13, 2006

Legal Chill Worries Drug Bulletin

by Bob Burton — October 16, 2006 - 2:35am

The case of a judge granting an injunction to prevent a group of medical professionals publishing a critical review of the herbal drug Tebonin has the editor of a major drug bulletin worried. The editor of Australian Prescriber, John Dowden, notes that in two other instances where drug companies sued drug bulletins, the judgements favoured the publishers.

Main Source: 
Australian Prescriber, October 2006

Drug Ads Debate Heats Up in Europe and New Zealand

by Bob Burton — October 16, 2006 - 2:31am

A coalition of European health groups, including the International Society of Drug Bulletins and the Medicines in Europe Forum, is alarmed at a renewed campaign by the drug industry to lift the ban on direct-to-consumer advertising in Europe.

Main Source: 
Health Action International Europe, October 2006 (pdf file)

Blowing in the Wind

by Bob Burton — October 9, 2006 - 5:34am

A five-year long study into the 1959 meltdown of a nuclear reactor near Simi Valley in California has concluded that it could have caused between 260 and 1,800 cases of cancer. The report could not be more specific because the U.S. Department of Energy and Boeing, the parent company of Rocketdyne, refused to provide the weather data crucial to modelling where the radioactive pollution went.

Main Source: 
Los Angeles Times, October 6, 2006

European Drug Pushers

by Bob Burton — October 6, 2006 - 5:17am

The drug industry is hopeful that it will succeed in watering down the European Union's ban on direct to consumer advertising (DTCA) of pharmaceuticals. Draft proposals from a working group, which includes members of the European Commission and the drug industry, have proposed a public-private partnership to provide patient "information" on prescription medicines.

Main Source: 
MSNBC, September 28, 2006

McDonald's Chews Fat with "Independent" Obesity Researchers

by Jonathan Rosenblum — September 26, 2006 - 3:42pm

When previously spotted pitching in to help the cause of "independent" research involving its products, McDonald's Corp. asked a Connecticut nun to quickly issue an unfinished report about farm workers in order to help the fast food giant fight off a fair wage campaign by migrant tomato pickers.

Main Source: 
Reuters, September 13, 2006

Merck Unconvincingly Clears Execs of Vioxx Wrongdoing

by Diane Farsetta — September 25, 2006 - 12:29pm

Although the pharmaceutical company Merck spent $21 million on a 20-month investigation led by a former U.S. district judge, the report's conclusion that "executives at Merck had not knowingly put Vioxx patients in cardiovascular danger" may not boost the drugmaker's sagging reputation. "Some critics say the report is not credible because of Merck's board's involvement" and point out that Debevoise & Plimpton, the firm whose lawyers carried out the study, has a "pro-corporate" reputation.

Main Source: 
PR Week (sub req'd), September 21, 2006
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