Peter Rost keeps milking that AZ newsletter, bringing to the fore two new issues for us Pharma BlogosphereTM denizens to mash up.
First up is the "Pink Cupcake Caper," which led to some comments published by Christiane Truelove, which raised fur on Black Kitty (BK), which sounded like a "Kitty Fight" to me, who lost more face over the resulting brouhaha.
Lesson:No one should speak for patients as to what is or is not appropriate gifts. It also raises the question that I posed over at Pharma Marketing Blog: should the drug industry develop guidelines for gifts to patients similar to guidelines for gifts to physicians? (see "Guidelines for Gifts to Patients").
However, I was glad to raise the issue of sexism amongst a few of us male bloggers in this arena, which I hope the women focus on rather than my provocative "Kitty Fight" blog post, which is a red herring.
BTW, have you voted in the "most sexist male blogger" poll yet? Voter turnout is light so far, but I see that Peter Rost leads with 27% of the votes, Jack Friday follows with 18%, and I trail with 9%. Of course, a plurality (45%) think we should grow up already! See the poll in the sidebar on the right.
Doctor Bags of Money Peter, of course, brought us the "Buckets of Money" that sales reps can dip their hands into when calling on doctors. But did you know that many docs reap "Bags of Money" as paid drug industry consultants?
Peter exposes one such doctor that may have been paid as much as $204,000 in 2006 by Astrazeneca (see the Dr. Freedland Fee Fest post by Peter here).
My take on this: Hey! Pharma! Are you going to report these fees now that you are beginning to be more transparent about educational grants? Should these fees be reported? Let me know what you think by taking the poll here.
Queen Noir Oh well, if sexism doesn't get your blood roiling, how about a Jordanian queen barring the press from her BIO keynote speech. This angered -- and rightly so -- Ed Silverman over at Pharmalot who wondered if BIO was taking place in the Middle East or America (see "BIO: Is This Boston, Or The Mideast?").
It is a BIO PR faux pas -- Americans are dying every day supposedly to make the Middle East more democratic, while our freedoms are being whittled away here at home. I say bullshit to that and throw the Queen Noir out-a-here! (as in the great NYC sense of the term "Throw da bum out!").
P.S. Now that the French have elected a conservative leader, I feel it is now politically correct to pepper my post with French phrases.
Although Ted Kennedy blew off presenting at the prestigious BIO conference in Boston (see Pharmalot: "Where's Ted? Not At BIO") and Queen "Noir" of Jordan pulled the Hijab over her presentation (see "BIO: Is This Boston, Or The Mideast?"), quite a few pharma people must be up there and not reading blogs today.
BTW, did you read the little "love" note I received from BK?
"John, I *love* you. You have been patient and kind with me. I love this discussion. Thanks for *even* listening to me... purrrr....
I will respond thoughtfully tonite.."
MeeeeeOW! If my wife (I would never refer to my wife as "Mrs. Mack" -- that was my mom) ever saw that, I'd get a much worse beating than I got in this little kitty fight!
How About a Little Poll to Liven Things Up? Speaking of sexism, please let it be known that I kid Peter and Jack (PharmaGossip) -- although they do post a lot of images of women in suggestive poses! Peter was proud to post a video of a Brazilian model having sex on the beach -- and she wasn't drinking! Jack also suggested what the bikini-clad sales rep looked like (see here).
So, who's the most sexist (male) blogger in the Pharma BlogosphereTM (NOT the sexist!)? Inquiring minds want to know:
Chris Truelove has man handled me over in the comments to my Pharma Marketing News post "Guidelines for Gifts to Patients" and suggested that my "casting the verbal disagreement between Dr. Black Kitty and me as a 'Kitty fight,' you've implied a bimbo-tastic tone that's hard for folks to get past and take us seriously. It's an attitude that is satired in this classic Harry Enfield piece:"
Yes, that husband could be me! It happens every time my wife and I attend a dinner party! If only I had seen this a long time ago, I'm sure I'd be more happily married.
In my defense:
At least I refrained from posting any R-rated images of women, which is becomming more common amongst pharma bloggers, especially those who emulate Peter Rost and PharmaGossip! Speaking of whom, did you see the image PharmaGossip used to illustrate Truelove's story about a sales rep who stripped down to her bikini in a doc's office?
In defense of my male colleagues (ie, Peter Rost and Jack Friday), if you put meat in front of lions, you've got to expect them to feast! In other words, Truelove could have chosen not to describe the bikini rep incident, since it is anecdotal anyway and does no good for the image of women reps.
Just when you thought it was safe to take up Rost's mantle of Sexual Pharma Blogger extraordinaire -- hold on there Jack! -- Rost returns and redacts his pledge to blog no more!
For more on this and Rost's reasons for returning to the Blogosphere, see "Blog Addiction." What the Hell Is This? Rost includes this image of a what I assume is a crack bong in his post:
I assume it's a crack bong because of the file name (crack3.jpg) and because Rost is talking about addictions and so on. But I thinks it's really a sex toy -- note the little knobs!
One of may favoritest sites in the Pharma Blogosphere is PharmaGossip, which started up in September, 2005. I read it every single day.
PharmaGossip's author disguises his identity and uses the alias Insider, but often refers to himself as "Jack Friday."
Perhaps the name "Jack Friday" is a combination of two names of famous and infamous TV law enforcement characters -- Joe Friday (Dragnet) and Jack Bauer (24) . I seriously doubt, and hope that it's not true, that our Jack Friday could be a fan of Jack Bauer -- a character who would have been right at home at Abu Ghraib prison!
From Jack's profile and postings, we know he resides "somewhere" in GB. I suspect, therefore, that "Jack Friday" is merely a British form of "Joe Friday." Joe just is not a proper British name, even if it is a pen name or alias.
Let's continue with the gossip: What else do we know about Jack Friday?
Let me start it off by suggesting that if "Jack" remembers Dragnet, a show popular in the 60's, then he must be a member of the boomer generation.
The American Connection Jack has a love-hate relationship with America. He seems to take an extraordinary interest in US politics and culture. Along with 67% of Americans, for example, Insider disapproves of George Bush and his Iraq war policy. This is clear from political posts often seen on PharmaGossip (see, for example, "Abu Ghraib Art" and "Have a great weekend everyone"). Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Of course, a lot of European bloggers may be interested in US politics these days, but I suspect Jack is an expatriate American. And since he rooted for the Bears in the Super Bowl, is a Cubs fan and likes Budweiser beer, I'd say he's from the midwest, perhaps even Chicago. He even knows about special events at Harry Caray’s Restaurant in Chicago (see "Cheers Harry!").
His curt profile refers to doctors, so we can assume Jack is a physician:
The term "PR" means somthing (sic) completely different to a medical doctor! "We are all born ignorant, but one must work hard to remain stupid." - Benjamin Franklin. 'It takes a wise doctor to know when not to prescribe." [See, he quotes a famous American, who, if anything, the Brits should hate because of his role in the American Revolutionary War in which we whooped their asses! This is another reason why I think Jack is an expatriate.]
His "Insider" alias suggests he is a physician working inside a pharmaceutical company -- maybe GSK or AZ, which are the two largest UK-based pharma companies that I can think of.
That's all that is "known" about Jack's identity and background -- and even this is conjecture! But it's all good gossip, which Jack should appreciate!
The Insider takes extraordinary pains to keep his identity secret. He would not even consent to an interview with me by phone with his voice disguised. But if you know more about Jack -- fictional or otherwise -- leave a comment. But seriously, don't "out" the guy if you really know who he is.
As much as we would like to learn the true identity of Insider, we must respect his wishes to remain anonymous. For if he were "outed" we would surely lose one of the best blogs in the Pharma Blogosphere. One famous pharma blogger may already have been outed and his blog shut down (see "Pharma Watch Author Outed?").
According to the first posting on PharmaGossip, Jack's mission is to "look at the pharmaceutical industry with a seasoned, if not cynical, eye and ...provide some insights into what is happening (and why) in Big Pharma. Spin will be sniffed out and gossip encouraged!"
PharmaGossip sometimes does come up with what seems to be "insider information," some of which may be contributed by readers, but most of the time sources of information for posts are publications and other blogs.
That brings me to why I like PharmaGossip so much -- Jack is quick to praise other bloggers. Many a time I have found a comment such as "Spot On!", "greatest post ever", etc. that Jack has left on my blog.
PharmaGossip is also there when you need help as when Derek Lowe, author of the blog In the Pipeline, needed a new job (see "Work Wanted").
Jack often features other blogger's posts in his blog and helps promote projects such as the First Ever Pharma Blogosphere Survey hosted by this site.
In the aforementioned poll, a sizable percentage of respondents read pharma-related blogs to be entertained. PharmaGossip has satisfied that need and then some. The blog is peppered with entertaining music videos, for example. There are also many "doctored" photos and cartoons.
As in some other blogs -- most notably Question Authority -- there is a fair amount of sexual content on PharmaGossip. This is not surprising considering that the vast majority of blogs in the Pharma Blogosphere are run by men (see "It's Raining Men in the Pharma Blogosphere") and maybe the readership also is mostly male.
But, unlike Question Authority, which will show you videos of super models having sex on the beach in Brazil, PharmaGossip's sexual content almost always relates to the pharmaceutical industry. One example of such a post is "Is this how Pfizer pick their new drug reps?", which features a video of a swim suit competetion at a Pfizer/Viagra sponsored racing event in Mexico. The women are purported to be prostitutes, which is not an illegal profession in Mexico.
The men sure seem to be enjoying the show, which was captured by a cell phone. You can follow the link on PharmaGossip to Pfizer's Mexican Web site, which promoted this event: "We invite you to this magnificent sport event and to Ignite your motors!" Or something to that effect. It sure ignited my motor! What the hell! He's the video, again (for men only!):
Why oh why did they boo numero cuatro?!!!
OK, so you can be entertained by PharmaGossip, but you can also keep up to date with industry news and gossip on a daily basis. Since the site originates in GB, aka UK, you will also learn a lot about pharma company shenanigans in Europe. This may not be too exciting for US readers, but there's a whole 'nother world out there and PharmaGossip is a great window into that world.
Pharmaguy™ (@pharmaguy) is a "constructive critic" of the pharmaceutical industry. He is not shy about giving his opinion, which is respected by many insiders who share some of his views but who are unable to voice them on their own.
Doctor Bags of Money
