'Round the Sphere: Pharma Giles' Lyrics and NRX's NOTES

Last week I challenged -- well, not exactly challenged; more like offered a prize -- to any pharma blogger who would rewrite the lyrics to "Puttin' On the Ritz" so that they were relevant to the pharmaceutical industry.

Pharma Giles was up to the challenge (read his lyrics here).

Giles suggests it would make for a "pretty funny (if gut-churning) video" and I agree. Anyone out there willing and able to give it a shot? Or at least find some still images to accompany the lyrics.

The feminine "tails" and top hat image shown here was used by Giles in his post.

Meanwhile, Rost at NRx was glimpsing the future of natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) in a provocative post entitled "Surgeons remove gallbladder through vagina." Go ahead and read it. You know you can't resist!

This is the image Rost included in his post.

Does anyone see a problem here?

What's the gall bladder doing way up there under this woman's breasts?

Not that I'm turned on by this medical graphic, but did the artist relocate the gall bladder just to bring in the outline of the breasts?

Inquiring minds want to know!

'Round the Sphere: PDUFA, DTC and Pet Turtles Too!

The Food and Drug Administration Revitalization Act (S.1082) has been approved by Congress (see "Congress Expands FDA's Oversight On Drug Safety") and will soon be signed into law (you can read the entire bill here).

While Ed Silverman over at Pharmalot makes a big deal out the intense lobbying by advertising agencies and broadcasters to make sure the bill had no restrictions on DTC (see "Why Tougher DTC Restrictions Were Killed"), he overlooked the murky-water lobbyists who worked hard to ensure there were also no restrictions on the marketing and sales of pet turtles.

I refer, of course, to Title VII of the bill, which states that the FDA is prohibited from restricting the sale of turtles less than 10.2 centimeters in diameter.

The pet turtle industry feared a "turtle moratorium," however the Pet Turtle Advertising Council of America (PTACA) lobbied hard and long to have Title VII inserted into the bill. It would have been unseemly for turtle farmers, wholesalers, or other commercial retail sellers of pet turtles to do so directly.

For more on that, see "DTC Here to Stay; Pet Turtles Too!" over at Pharma Marketing Blog.

The WSJ Health Blog also covered this story (about the DTC advertisers' lobby, not the pet turtle lobby) -- see "Advertising Allies Turn Tide for Pharma."

PhRMA -- the US drug industry trade association -- was ecstatic about the bill's provision regarding the preview of broadcast TV ads, but was mysteriously silent about the turtles:

"...the legislation will enable FDA to hire additional employees to review broadcast drug advertisements prior to public dissemination, helping to ensure that benefits and risks are clearly and accurately communicated. It also will create strong incentives for companies to submit such advertisements to the agency before airing them, in accordance with PhRMA's Guiding Principles on Direct-to-Consumer Advertisements about Prescription Drugs." (See "PhRMA Statement on Congressional Passage of PDUFA".)

NRx, of course, had more pressing news to report: ie, "Getting high on a can of Coke."

Hundreds of people every year are poisoned by pet turtles and we're talking about getting high from Coke?!!! Something's not right.

Finally, Mark Senak over at Eye On FDA, began his post ominously:

"As we all wait anxiously for Congress to do its job and actually produce legislation for signature, and as many FDA employees see their jobs hanging in the balance while awaiting PDUFA IV, some may wonder what it is all about and what is at stake."

Clearly, Mark is more worried about those poor FDA employees -- whom I calculate will be paid $231,481.48 per year to preview TV DTC ads (see my math here) -- than about those pet turtle owners who might have been denied licking the backs of their reptiles to get high!

Blogs Bob Ehrlich Reads

Who is Bob Ehrlich and why do I care what blogs he reads?

Ehrlich is Chairman of DTC Perspectives, which publishes the trade publication, DTC Perspectives Magazine, and is host to several DTC industry conferences. Ehrlich also writes a weekly OpEd email piece called DTC in Perspective.

Back in May, Bob was a guest on my Pharma Marketing Talk podcast where the subject was "Blogs vs. DTC: What's Best for Consumers?" You can listen to the audio archive of that podcast here.

Of course, Bob and I have had our differences (see, for example, "Mack and Meyer Clash with Publisher Over "Journalistic Integrity""), but we've agreed to disagree and remain cordial and frequently exchange opinions by private email.

Whatever our differences are, we are avid readers of each others' work and this week Bob reveals that my blog, Pharma Marketing Blog, is one of the three pharmaceutical blogs that he reads on a regular basis. The three are:

1. Pharma Marketing Blog
2. Pharmalot
3. Peter Rost (not sure if he reads Question Authority or NRx)

I note with interest that Ed Silverman (Pharmalot) and Peter Rost (NRx) will be the star blogger panelists at the DTC in the Age of Innovation Conference (October 24-25, 2007) hosted by Ehrlich's company.

Ehrlich had this to say of me and my blog:

"I am always interested to know what John Mack has to say. His Pharma Marketing blog is usually fun to read even when it annoys me. John always likes to ruffle feathers but I usually appreciate his humor, even when the feathers he ruffles are mine, which he does frequently. He will review controversial DTC ads or new tactics used by marketers. Few will get a good review but he is worth listening to because he could just right sometimes."

Thanks for the kind comments, Bob!

One thing regarding my review of DTC ads; ie, "Few will get a good review ..."

As I have said before (eg, "I'm Non-Objective and Proud of It" and "Trade Publications Must Be More than Drug Industry Cheerleaders!"), the field is crowded with publishers and pharma marketing experts that never have a NEGATIVE thing to say about DTC or other types of pharmaceutical marketing. Their reviews are ALWAYS good!

I believe that there is a great unmet need out there for constructive criticism, which is what I strive for over at Pharma Marketing Blog.

You can read Bob's weekly e-Column OpEd piece here.

While I enjoy Bob's weekly commentary, I find it difficult to cite. The commentary is sent via opt-in e-mail, but the Web site that I linked to above is not updated for several days afterward. I wish that Bob would start a blog instead. That way, he can join the conversation here in the Pharma Blogosphere!

'Round the Sphere: New Media Tricks, Old Media Mystery, News Media Morons

It's all about the media this week 'round the old Pharma Blogosphere! At least on my narrow radar screen.

I started out with a post here about Web 2.0 Tricks for Pharma Marketers that I plan to reveal at THE Pharma Marketing Event on September 19 at the fabulous Park Hyatt at the Bellevue in Center City Philadelphia, PA (more info about that conference can be found here).

Peter Rost over at NRx graciously picked this up in his post "How to use the web to fool the FDA." I should note -- and I'm sure Peter is well aware of this -- that it is very easy to "fool" the FDA these days, especially when they are not even looking! Any hand can be quicker than the FDA's eyes! No magic there!

I also picked up from another of Rost's posts Novartis' attempt at a perfect execution of the YouTube "User-Generated" Video Trick (see "Novartis Attempts Perfect Execution of Web 2.0 Trick!"). Suffice it to say that this involves a contest. Both Rost and I, however, could not access the Official Rules (go ahead, click it and see what you get -- the dreaded "404" error).

I called Novartis and they were not aware of the contest..."Flu what-did-you-say?" They promised to investigate and get back to me, but I'm not holding my breath.

Meanwhile, in my post, I surmise that Novartis will purchase the copyright to winning videos and incorporate them into TV DTC ads for Fluvirin, its flu vaccine.

My friend Fard Johnmar over at HealthcareVOX says "You Can Run, But You Can't Hide" when it comes to performing tricks in the Web 2.0 WILD WILD WEST. He cited Abbott getting caught attempting the Wikipedia Sleight-of-Hand Edit Trick. However, if pharmaceutical marketers were to follow my directions, I am sure they can run AND hide! Come hear my presentation and learn how to flawlessly execute this trick is all I am saying.

Fard also was kind enough to send me a New Social Media Marketing Framework White Paper he co-authored with TNS Media Intelligence/Cymfony.

"Pharmaceutical companies are missing a tremendous learning and consumer engagement opportunity with social media because they are uncertain about the FDA's position on this type of marketing," said TNS Media Intelligence/Cymfony Chief Marketing Officer Jim Nail. "Our framework gives their marketing, legal and regulatory groups a common ground to design a social media strategy."

Framewok, Shramework! Just reveal the secrets! That's what I promise to do in my presentation and soon-to-be-published "Compendium of Web 2.0 Tricks for the Pharmaceutical Marketer: Secrets of the Masters Revealed. Everything that You Can Get Away With and Nothing that You Can’t Get Away With!"

Let's not quibble about "one click" or "two clicks" as the "rule." There are NO rules except DON'T GET CAUGHT by being STUPID like Abbott!

OK, enough about New Media. What about Old Media?

Print DTC ads in magazines is something we don't write about often. It's just not very glamorous or as funny as TV DTC ads!

This week, however, I noticed a mysterious print DTC ad for GSK's Veramyst in Time Magazine (see "What's Up with the Veramyst 'Brief Summary' Print Ad?"). It's like a mystery I cannot solve! Someone please tell me what's going on!

One thing that's not a mystery are moron main stream "journalists" who repeat practically verbatim the stuff pharma PR wonks hand them. Rost pointed this out in his recent post, "Healthcare journalists are morons." [Rost is really on a Roll with his pharma-related posts lately!]

The story at the heart of this was about a Pfizer "study" that attempted to "generate the hypothesis" that you are at a higher risk of DEATH if you stop taking Pfizer's Lipitor and switched to Merck's generic Zocor!

Drat! I should have used the "hypothesis generating" weasel statement when I released the results of the Pharma Blogosphere Reader Survey! D'Oh!

Of course, I've known for a long time that health journalists were "marketers in PR clothes;" see, for example, "Marketing Disguised as PR" and "PR Marketing: Mystery Wrapped in a Riddle."

But health journalists are NOT morons. Far from it! They are part of the pharmaceutical industry's PR/Marketing team and THEY ARE UNREGULATED TO BOOT. Also, many health journalists end up working in Big Pharma corporate communications. Ray Jordan, J&J PR Veep, for example, started out as a journalist (see "Introducing Ray Jordan, J&J PR Veep, Winemaker!")