Pharmaceuticals

Alli Oops! A Real Mess for Drug Campaign

by Bob Burton — June 17, 2007 - 4:56am

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has launched a $150 million promotion campaign for its over-the-counter (OTC) weight loss drug, Alli. But not all media coverage is up-beat about what is a lower-dose version of Roche's prescription only drug, Xenical.

Main Source: 
New York Daily News, June 13, 2007

FDA's Flack Attack

by Sheldon Rampton — June 12, 2007 - 9:41am

Several members of Congress are asking about conflicts of interest at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration after an FDA spokesman, who previously worked as a public relations representative for pharmaceutical companies, used agency email to attack the research of an independent scientist. Douglas Arbesfeld, a senior communications consultant to the FDA, sent an email to reporters attacking Dr.

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ABC News Nightline, May 30, 2007

FDA Rejects Sunlight

by Sheldon Rampton — May 30, 2007 - 10:43pm

In the wake of the latest study showing heart attack risk in an FDA-approved drug, there have been increased calls for greater transparency of clinical trial results. What does the U.S. Food and Drug Administration think about requiring companies to publicly release all of their trial results?

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GoozNews, March 23, 2007

Unhealthy Secrecy

by Bob Burton — May 30, 2007 - 3:26am

The chairperson of the Best Medicines Coalition (BMC), Louise Binder, recently appeared before the Canadian parliament's health committee to argue the case for patients gaining access to newer and more expensive drugs. When asked who funded BMC, Binder told the committee that half its funding came from the government agency, Health Canada, and the remainder was from the drug industry.

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CanWest News Service, May 28, 2007

Crisis Management "Gold Standard" Actually Tinny

by Diane Farsetta — May 24, 2007 - 5:22pm

As many speeches, magazines and books have done previously, the current issue of Fortune magazine calls Johnson & Johnson's (J&J's) response to the 1982 Tylenol capsule poisoning deaths "the gold standard in crisis control." O'Dwyer's PR Daily writes that "the Tylenol story, as commonly told, is a '

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O'Dwyer's PR Daily (sub req'd), May 22, 2007

I Don't Want My Pharma TV

by Diane Farsetta — May 22, 2007 - 2:03pm

"Amid strenuous lobbying across Europe" to end restrictions on direct-to-consumer drug advertising, four pharmaceutical companies are considering launching their own television station.

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The Guardian (UK), May 21, 2007

More Outsourced Science Raises More Questions

by Diane Farsetta — May 7, 2007 - 11:50am

"The public interest and the private interest aren't always the same thing," said Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), as Congress prepares to investigate "possible conflicts of interest involving medical research firms such as the Constella Group." The U.S.

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Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Wis.), May 5, 2007

Thailand Pays for a PR Coup

by Diane Farsetta — April 30, 2007 - 5:51pm

Thailand's unelected interim government, which was installed after a military coup in September 2006, is "increasingly unpopular at home" and "under attack abroad for overriding drug patents," reports Reuters. So, according to former army chief turned Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont, Thailand will "spend $600,000 on a three-month public relations campaign" to improve the government's poor image. "The money isn't much, but we have to do what we have to do," said Chulanont.

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Reuters, April 30, 2007

European Ban on Drug Ads Under Pressure

by Bob Burton — April 13, 2007 - 5:06am

Later this month, proposals "that would jeopardise the current ban on direct-to-consumer advertising for prescription drugs" in the European Union will be unveiled, reports Hannah Brown.

Main Source: 
British Medical Journal (sub req'd), March 31, 2007
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