Like a Bad Penny, Jim Edwards is Back in the Pharma Blogosphere

"Like a bad penny, I have opened a new drug news blog, titled 'Jim Edwards’ NRx.'"

That's how Jim's email announcement, which all you bloggers out there have probably received, starts out.

You can find Jim's new blog at http://jimedwardsnrx.wordpress.com/

It seems that Jim is simultaneously accepting freelance money from Brandweek--a company he used to work full-time for blogging--and yet claims his blog is "separate" from Brandweek. I think he means that he writes stories freelance for Brandweek and ALSO writes his blog, which is not financed by Brandweek and is independent of Brandweek.

Jim's blog tagline reads "Drug Business Stories the Media Hasn’t Written Yet." That could be interpreted two ways: (1) Jim beats the Media to the punch with important stories, and (2) Jim write stories that are too trivial for the Media. Both are acceptable niches for us bloggers.

Jim says in his email:

"Mainly, the blog will highlight stories that are under-reported or not reported at all. (As such, it is intended as a story idea sheet for media members.) It is not intended as a high traffic news-aggregator blog [Oh no, you dinnit! Look out Pharmalot and WSJ Health Blog!] – I’m looking to make no more than one post a day."

One interesting story Jim blogged about that probably fits interpretation #2 better than #1 is about PhRMA's new code for drug company interactions with physicians. In a July 18, 2008 post to his blog, Jim points out a loop hole that allows drug companies to still serve meals to physicians and be compliant with the code. He discovered this loophole by reading Lilly's press release about the code (see Jim's post: "Eli Lilly Kindly Points Out Loophole in the New Ban on Wining and Dining Docs").

But the MEDIA (ie, Brandweek) carried this story EIGHT days before and the story was written by the FREELANCE Jim (see "Drug Swag Gets Bagged"). So, technically, the Media Jim beat the blogger Jim to the punch! However, I first heard about it through Jim's blog -- I no longer read Brandweek since Jim and Peter Rost left.

Anyway here's the loophole as reported in Brandweek:

The rules also purport the ban on "token" consulting arrangements, in which doctors sign on as paid "consultants" in exchange for promises to write a certain number of prescriptions as part of a post-marketing evaluation. But the rules also say, "It is appropriate for consultants who provide advisory services to be offered reasonable compensation for those services and reimbursement for reasonable travel, lodging and meal expenses incurred as part of providing those services. Any compensation or reimbursement made in conjunction with a consulting arrangement should be reasonable and based on fair market value." Again, that leaves companies with wide latitude for interpretation.

Be Brutal, Says Jim
Jim wants feedback and says "As always, advice and criticism are welcome and encouraged. Go on, be brutal."

OK. Not that this criticism is brutal but I note the title of Jim's blog is, well, not too, how shall I say it, modest or catchy. I only mention this because Jim himself has criticized the title of other blogs like "Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry: A Closer Look," which Jim claims is "badly named." Now, Jim, let's not call the kettle black!

BTW, Jim also has a penchant for personalizing other blogs -- like my blog ("Pharma Marketing Blog") and Peter Rost's blog ("The Pharma Law Blog"). Jim lists these blogs in his blogroll under "John Mack" and "Peter Rost."

Jim, it's an honor for my blog to be listed in your blogroll and thanks for that. However, I am not as famous -- or infamous -- as Peter Rost and I would like links to my blog to include the blog name, Pharma Marketing Blog. Bad name or not, it's the name of my blog.

While you're changing that listing, how about adding Pharma Blogosphere to your blog roll? I am adding yours to mine!

'Round the Sphere: Pharma TV DTC Ads Offensive to Women?

While I was away in London this week, Richard Myer over at World of DTC Marketing sent me a copy of an email message he received from a reader of his blog who complained the that recent Evista TV ad, which shows menopausal women standing around wearing only towels, was "extremely offensive:"

I have been searching for who I should contact about the ad for Evista. I have seen it several times and want to say it is a very offensive ad. There are many women who have only a sheet wrapped around them.

This ad is very unbecoming and unnecessary to advertise medication. It once again adds to the lack of respect that the media has for women. Many of us are working for the dignity of women and ads such as this one destroys our efforts.

You can read Rich's take on this in the recent post entitled "Evista Ad Offensive?" I leave it up to you if the ad really is offensive to women.

No sooner than I was back home than I saw an unbranded fibromyalgia "disease awareness" ad by Pfizer. I definitely found this one disturbing in that it presented images of a bruised woman that looked very much like the battered woman syndrome posters and ads I have seen. See my post over at Pharma Marketing Blog entitled "Battered Woman Imagery in Pfizer's New Fibromyalgia Ad." Here's what I said about this ad:

"The whole thing smacked of desperation on Pfizer's part to sell more drugs and represents DTC advertising sinking to a new low in exploiting women's fears!"

Are these ads part and parcel of how pharma marketers view women or wish to appeal to their fears? I have noted previously that women were not portrayed very favorably in ads -- see "Women Need More Love, Less Drugs." Come to think of it, the ad I talk about in that post is another Pfizer ad -- a branded Lyrica ad!

Pens for Brains

Those pens that pharmaceutical sales reps hand out to physicians are often cited as examples of gifts to physicians that are meant to increase physician loyalty to the drug brand that made the gift.

Do pens work?

This advertiser in Pharmaceutical Executive Magazine thinks so.

How many physicians' brains need to be influenced by pens in order to make an investment in free pens for docs yield a positive return on investment (ROI)?

For the answer, see this post to Pharma Marketing Blog.

The Two Sources of Depression

Read about it in this post to Pharma Marketing Blog.

Is Marketing a Science or an Art?

Let's face it. Marketers are not daVinci's, by which I mean they are not good at combining art and science.

Despite all the talk these days about ROI this and ROI that, marketing remains aloof from attempts to measure its effects.

In fact, many marketers keep soldiering on with ridiculous ad campaigns even when they are clearly in negative ROI territory. See, for example, "Rozerem Ad Spending Exceeds Sales!"

I have to admit to getting sleepy when true ROI experts begin speaking of their craft. If you are up to it, give a listen to my podcast interview of Andree Bates ("You Want Marketing ROI? You're Not Ready to Measure ROI!"). To be fair, this is an audio-only podcast that would have benefited greatly from the excellent slides Dr. Bates had.

But I have a predicament and it's this: I am presenting a keynote speech on this topic at the Measuring Marketing ROI conference in London next month and I have an outline but need to fill in the details.

Can you hep? See the post "Are Marketers Artists or Mathematicians?" on Pharma Marketing Blog for details.

'Round the Sphere: Motivational Deficiency Disorder Strikes Again!

I've just returned from a few days vacation on the beach in Sunny Isles, Florida and I haven't yet recovered from the Motivational Deficiency Disorder (MDD) symptoms that resulted!

If you haven't heard about MDD, you can read about it on the WSJ Health Blog and Pharmalot.

Of course, MDD is a made-up disease and the butt of a spoof video produced by and organization called Consumers International (CI).

This isn't the first time CI produced a MDD video spoof. But there seems to be a rash of videos making fun of pharma marketing knocking around the Pharma Blogosphere these days. Is there a connection between them all?

To find out, you might want to read the post "Making Fun of Pharma Marketing is Easy" over at Pharma Marketing Blog.

P.S. CI also hosts the Marketing Overdose Blog, which CI says is devoted to "Campaigning against irresponsible drug promotion." I'd say they are campaigning against ALL drug promotion!

What's Your Political Compass?

Jack Friday at PharmaGossip and Aubrey Blumsohn at the Scientific Misconduct Blog both challenged me and other pharma bloggers to take the "Political Compass" survey and compare my results with theirs. Well here it is (click to enlarge).

Take the test yourself and see how to analyze it here.

On the left-right scale (economics), I am about as Marxist as Jack Friday, whereas Aubrey is a centrist. On the vertical social scale, however, Jack is the most authoritarian and Aubrey the most libertarian of us three. I'm somewhere between the two.

Jack and I share the same quadrant as Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and The Dalai Lama. I would not have put the latter in that square -- Mr. Lama seems much more authoritarian to me. After all, don't millions of people pray at his feet? In my case, only my dog is at my feet.

If It Wasn't for Dr. Nissen, I Wouldn't Have an Informed Opinion at All!

Do you take Zetia like me? Now that there's all this news about how the ENHANCE trial failed (see "The Controversial Vytorin Trial Ends In Failure"), I'm not sure what to do!

The only expert opinion I've heard is from Dr. Steven Nissen (see below), head of cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, who has called for a "moratorium" on the use of Vytorin and Zetia. "In the absence of any evidence of a clinical benefit," said Dr. Nissen, "these drugs should now be used as a last resort."

MY cardiologist hasn't called me or emailed me and the Zetia Web site is mum on the whole subject!

I think this lack of attention to patients like me from our own physicians and from the drug companies whose products I depend upon is SHAMEFUL! or worse!

Please read more about why I feel this way in today's post to Pharma Marketing Blog ("Should I Stop Taking Zetia?").

Happy Holidays! Support Your Local Pharma Industry!

Bloggers in the Pharma Blogosphere did not like it when I asked readers to rate my blog and others (see survey summary here). That taught me a lesson: think of numero uno first! Therefore, I've been running a survey of readers of Pharma Marketing Blog for a while. Thank you if you have already taken that survey. If not, see Pharma Marketing Blog Reader Survey to take the survey - but only if you read Pharma Marketing Blog and want to suggest topics I should cover in the New Year!

Support for Industry
A good majority (65%) of Pharma Marketing Blog readers are somewhat or very supportive of the pharmaceutical industry in general, whereas only 19% are somewhat or very unsupportive (see chart below).


I am happy that my readers support the drug industry -- I am "somewhat supportive" of the industry myself, which means I want the industry to succeed, not fail and to do the "right thing" when it comes to marketing.

It's interesting to note that although 84% of industry respondents in my survey consider themselves supportive of the industry, a good percentage (24%) feel as I do -- their support may be conditional (ie, they "somewhat support" the industry)!

The survey also asks other questions like what topics readers would like to read more about on Pharma Marketing Blog and what other blogs they read on a regular basis -- I know those results will be contested by my fellow bloggers! But 'tis the season for good cheer and I will delay a report on those questions until AFTER the New Year!

In the meantime,

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

This Year's #1 Office Party Favor

Hint: It's an ENHANCED mistletoe product that is sure to liven up any dull office holiday party!

Yet another reason to invite John Mack to your party.

Read about it here.

Mack's Lilly Whistleblower Scoop!

Several weeks ago I received an email from John Virapen who published a fictional novel ("Side Effects: Death"; written in German) about corruption in the pharma industry.

Virapen claims to have "damning evidence" exposing Eli Lilly bribing the regulatory board in Sweden to attain marketing approval for Prozac and he plans to write the true story based on his memoirs outlining his and Lilly's criminal activities.

Who is John Virapen and do his claims have merit? Is this part of a wider scandal involving Lilly?

Read all the juicy details and learn how you can hear the story first hand from John Virapen in today's post to Pharma Marketing Blog.

"Talking Loogie" and Other DTC Critters Walk Out!

NEW YORK, New York (PMB) -- The Critters that appear in many direct-to-consumer (DTC) drug ads will go on strike early Tuesday after their negotiating team recommended a walkout over royalties that could immediately pinch primetime news shows that depend on the ads for revenue.

The DTC Critters Guild of America (DTC-CGA) board voted unanimously to strike as of 12:01 a.m. Monday (3:01 a.m. ET), officials said.

The walkout will be the first in 10 years since the FDA loosened DTC regulations.

The labor impasse is over royalties from use of DTC in alternative media such as blogs, podcasts, web boards, YouTube -- all the various places their works are now distributed, including Internet downloads.

For the full story, including insights from Mr. Mucinex, Beaver, Stippy the Turd, and Honest Abe, see today's post to Pharma Marketing Blog.

In a related story, the WSJ Health Blog reports that Mr. Mucinex is worth $2.3 billion to Reckitt Benckiser, the company that hires him to appear in the Mucinex DTC ads (see "How a Talking Loogie Landed a Multi-Billion Dollar Deal").

Should Zero Tolerance be Applied to Pharma Celebrity Spokespeople?

Not so long ago, I called for pharma advertisers to boycott the Imus show over his infamous "nappy-headed ho" racial slur against young college athletes who never did him any harm (see "Glaxo, Pull Your Imus Ads!"). The next day, GSK and other advertisers did pull their ads.

Now another celebrity associated with the pharmaceutical industry has gone bad -- Montel Williams.

How did Montel go "bad' and what should PhRMA do about it?

Find out by reading today's post to Pharma Marketing Blog. You can also take my little poll.

'Round the Sphere: True Confessions and Omissions

Dr. Carlat's (author of The Carlat Psychiatry Blog) confession of a past stint as a paid drug industry "consultant" was first sighted by me in the Wall Street Journal Health Blog here.

[BTW, kudos for to the WSJ Health Blog for attaining the #6 position in eDrugSearch's list of Top 100 health Blogs. This beats Pharmalot, which has dropped back to #42. Pharma Marketing Blog, however, is close behind WSJ in the #11 position!]

Howard Brody over at Hooked on Ethics blog pointed out a few things Dr. Carlat omitted ini his confession and suggested that the $30,000 Dr. Carlat received as "honoraria" was actually a bribe to prescribe more Effexor ER (see Carlat's 'Dr. Drug Rep'--Some Further Possibilities). He also suggested that the same is true for the other 199,999 physician "consultants."

I dunno. The math just doesn't work for me. $30,000 is a lot to get maybe 25 or so new patients on the drug, which is probably the extent that Dr. Carlat to increase his NRx for Effexor ER. I offered a different ROI analysis in my post on the topic (see "Dr. Carlat's True Confession: 199,999 More to Go").

My conception of the conversation Dr. Carlat had with the Wyeth sales manager the day after he was less than a stellar spokesperson for Effexor ER (see here for the back story).

You might also want to read the comments posted to Carlat's own blog here. One comment posted by a psychiatrist in private practice in NYC included this confession, demonstrating once again how naive physicians claim to be:

"I was particularly struck, okay, terrified, by your description of the way the AMA sells information, and that that, and purchasing prescribing information from pharmacies aren't illegal. Everyone's so conscious of HIPAA laws, you'd think there would be some corresponding protection for physician privacy."

Carlat also claimed to be "astonished" at the level of information drug companies have about the prescribing habits of physicians. As if that were some kind of state secret!

As for "physician privacy," imagine if the prescribing habits of physicians were really considered private information that the public had no right to see! How would we hold them accountable? As a matter of fact, the government (eg, HHS) should spend some dough getting their hands on these data and see if physicians really are prescribing the right drugs for patients and link Rx behavior with patient outcomes. O yeah, forgot. That would require universal electronic medical records -- a pipe dream long forgotten by the current administration!

'Round the Sphere: RLS redux -- Rost's Legal Suit

Peter Rost, a former Pfizer VP, wins appeal in qui tam case against Pfizer Inc.

Peter Rost, the writer of NRX, filed a qui tam suit against Pfizer Inc., during his employment as Vice President at Pfizer. The suit alleged illegal marketing of Genotropin, a growth hormone.

The information in the suit resulted in Pfizer paying a $34.7 million fine in April 2007, however, the district court ultimately held that 'Rost failed to plead his fraud claims with sufficient specificity' and his civil suit was dismissed.

Yesterday the United States Court of Appeals For the First Circuit vacated the decision by the district court to dismiss Rost's suit, and concluded in its ruling, 'The dismissal of the action is vacated. The case is remanded to the district court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

What this means is that Rost gets an opportunity to amend his original complaint with additional information requested by the court.

"In other words," says Ed Silverman over at Pharmalot, "he's back in the game and may, ultimately, win a slice of the Pfizer fine."

Hmmm... slice. Hmmm... donuts!

Speaking of RLS and piles of money, can you guess how much money the US healthcare system may be wasting treating Restless Leg Syndrome with Requip?

Is it:

$150,000 per year?
$1,250,000 per year?
$285,000,000 per year?
$1,100,000,000 per year?

I know. I know. It depends on what you mean by "waste."

Anyway, over at Pharma Marketing Blog, I whipped out my trusty Microsoft desktop calculator and did some math so that you don't have to.

'Round the Sphere: RLS Videos. Creepy, Crawly, Weird, and Wired!

It all started innocently enough with a post by Ed Silverman over at Pharmalot. On Tuesday, Ed called our attention to a Consumer Reports video critique of the classic "Creepy, Crawly" Requip Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS) TV ad (see "Debunking TV Ads: Installment #1").

Although Ed's post was published about 12 days after CR first uploaded the video on its web site, I think the post woke up the sleeping RLS Foundation, GSK, and their PR minions who set to work debunking the debunkers.

That same day (Nov. 13) I received a comment from an anonymous Pharma Marketing Blog reader notifying me that the RLS Foundation had that day sent an e-mail to its members urging a boycott of CR. The Foundation also wrote a letter to CR. I posted a note about this turn of events on my blog the next morning (see "RLS Foundation (aka GSK?) Calls for Boycott of Consumer Reports Over Ad Spoof").

Since then, I have received numerous comments to my post in defense of the RLS Foundation. All say the same thing: it's a real independent patient organization (as opposed to an "astroturf" organization founded by GSK and BI) and RLS is a "real" medical condition. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

I have reason to believe the initial comment and some of the others have been orchestrated by buzz marketers who have not flawlessly executed the "Posing as a Consumer on Social Networks" Web 2.0 trick (see "Web 2.0 Pharma Marketing Tricks for Dummies").

Last night (Nov. 14) Wired Science aired the video "The Business of Disease" on primetime TV (PBS). The main attraction was a demonstration of an RLS simulator "designed as an awareness piece for the physician community ... so they will have a better understanding of the science" (see "RLS Simulator: Weird Wired Science").

BTW, the Wired Science video is real journalism as opposed to the CR video. The WS piece includes interviews with physicians and marketing experts, including my friend Rich Myer over at World of DTC Marketing blog. Thanks to my recommendation to the Wired Science people, Rich was interviewed at his home where he had this to say about the role of marketing:

"Creating a need, that's what marketing is all about," said Myer. "If people don't know they have a need, create a need."

Amen, brother!

Do You Buy AdAge's Thesis About Frayed Attention Disorder?

According to Advertising Age, Americans Long for a Chance to Rest, Replenish and Reboot. We are, says AdAge, "Whipsawed by Stimuli" and "Our Attention Is Fraying and Disorders Are Multiplying."

I call it Frayed Attention Disorder (FAD).

What's the cause?

According the AdAge reporter, what's causing FAD in Americans is all the bad news about "Car bombs in Iraq. Car bombs in Afghanistan. Coordinated car bomb attacks in Pakistan. And then -- to vary the tempo -- a visit to the funeral of the victim of a car bombing (that gets car bombed)."

Could it be something closer to AdAge's home causing FAD?

Please read my comments on Pharma Marketing Blog and join me in blasting this thesis.

Mirapex Buzz Marketers Make Hay from RLS Foundation's Attack on Video Spoof of Requip Ad

I find myself blessed! Buzz marketers have me on their short list of people/bloggers to notify about issues that benefit their lords and masters.

Today, for example, I received a comment from that guy "Anonymous" who notified me that the Restless Leg Syndrome Foundation urged its "members" to cancel their subscriptions to Consumer Reports because of the "extremely sarcastic and insulting video" that spoofs a Requip TV ad.

You can read all about this, including the comments I received from the Mirapex user (aka, Mirapex buzz marketer), links to the CR video and RLS Foundation letter to CR, in today's post to Pharma Marketing Blog: "RLS Foundation (aka GSK?) Calls for Boycott of Consumer Reports Over Ad Spoof".

I suspect several other bloggers will receive similar comments from "Mirapex users." Ed Silverman over at Pharmalot wrote a short piece about the CR Requip video spoof. So far, I haven't seen any other bloggers chime in on this. My advice is to take a look at the RLS Foundation's letter -- it has enough material in it for a dozen blog posts!

Meanwhile, have you seen Peter Rost's post on NRx about the man who grew roots like a tree? This is a classic, must-see Rost post! I am not sure, but it may also be a plug for a Discovery TV documentary scheduled to air this week. Keep up the good work Peter!

The Tortured Tchotchke and the Thanksgiving Turkey Giveaway

Pharmalot and Pharma Marketing Blog have both reported on FDA's letter to Scios "requesting" that it cease dissemination of violative Natrecor computer mouse pad and pen tchotchkes that it has been giving as gifts to physicians.

The mouse pad is pictured at the left.

FDA cited these baubles as "inappropriate reminder labeling." Read more what the FDA said here.

Speaking of "reminders," all this language and imagery reminds me of waterboarding and the recent confirmation hearings for attorney general nominee Michael Mukasey, who has refused to categorically reject the practice as torture.

More importantly, however, is the "gift" that FDA gave Scios: about two weeks to "respond" to the FDA complaint with a "plan" for how it will comply. Who knows what the plan's timeline for compliance will be, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Scios reps were able to unload ALL the Natrecor tchotches stockpiled in their garages by Thanksgiving, thus saving Scios a lot of money, which could be used to buy holiday turkeys for ALL Scios employees!

Thank you, FDA!

P.S. Drug Rep Toys, for once didn't scoop us on this!

'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!