More Dirt on the Co-optation of Rx Daily Dose Blog by Pfizer

Earlier today, we learned that Rx Daily Dose blogger and Boston Herald op-ed columnist Virginia Buckingham rocketed out of the Pharma Blogosphere^TM and landed a job as a Pfizer lobbyist (see "Is a Pharma PR Job In Your Future?"). i picked this up from PharmaGossip.

Ed Silverman over at Pharmalot picked up and added to the story:

"Until recently, Ginny [Ed and Ms. Buckingham must be buddies if he can get away with using this familiar form of her name] also managed the content of Rx Daily Dose, a blog that may be familiar to some of you. This is how the blog describes itself: 'On a daily basis, RxDailyDose will correct the record, expose the biases and clarify the cost to patients of misguided policies, off-base attacks and hypocritical politicians targeting an industry whose constant discovery of new and better medicines has improved health and extended lives.'

"Not sure if the blog exists anymore [Nope, it doesn't. Seriously, Ed you got to visit here more frequently. It doesn't look good for a journalist to admit to not knowing something!]. But it was begun as a project of the Institute For Liberty, a conservative group. The organization's president, Jason Wright, was previously a vp at Frontiers of Freedom Institute, another conservative group that was founded by Malcolm Wallop, a former republican senator from Wyoming. His group receives backing from oil and tobacco companies, according to SourceWatch."

This is the closest connection I can find between the drug, oil, and tobacco industries, other than they all are way down in the cellar of public opinion ... THEY HIRE MOUTHPIECES FROM THE SAME REPUBLICAN THINK TANKS! How cozy!