Bloggers Compete to Sling Mud at AZ; CafePharma Slings Back

Another day and another flurry of Rost e-mail and Rost posts that lead to posts on other blogs -- most notably pharmalot, BrandweekNRX, and PharmaGossip!

Even Rost is getting tired of the one-upmanship needed to keep up with the "journalist bloggers" who seem to have too many resources at their disposal.

In this mud-slinging contest it seems that anything is blogworthy -- even drivel posted on the CafePharma bulletin boards. All the aforementioned blogs have posted CafePharma comments or links to these comments (see here, here, and here).

However, they have left out the juiciest CafePharma comments, which I now will dutifully reproduce here.

"Group of seven of the biggest pussies... Stick your ethics up your ass. Posting BS on cafepharma is soooooo ethical. You and Michael Moore -looking out for society. I feel soooo comforted. One needs to have a nut sack before they start preaching about ethics." [Hat Tip to Pharma Ethics, My Foot! Blog]

"What next - Peter Rost reports that an anonymous insider at AZ HQ transcribed the writing on the men's bathroom wall and this just in "...Blogspot.com reports that AZ VIP shits here every morning at about ten-thirty and he just TEARS the place up... AZ VIP has stinkiest shit in all of pharma...". You heard it here first at AnonymousButTruePharmaPostings@TrueShit.Blogspot.com."

"Peter Peter - this just in. We have been backdating options, we are hiding costs with overseas funds transfers, we rigged the data on almost all our clinical trials, we put investigational drugs into the eyes of baby rabbits, we are against women, blacks, gays and middle aged white men, some of our employees speak foreign languages, our reps try to sell to doctors every day, and those are not raisins in the salad in the employee cafeteria, they are rat turds. Blog that asshole."

"This Rost guy is a Michael Moore crony that is an industry and medical community outcast that has nothing better to do then sit at his computer all day long blogging about things he knows little about, blowing things out of proportion, and surfing porn."

Ha, ha! I can see it now. Rost and Moore yukking it up, throwing back a few beers (well, beers for Moore, Martinis for Rost). Yep, they really don't like Rost. Surprise, Surprise!

They have a few choice words for the AZ Group of Seven. Whereas, PharmaGossip compares them to the Magnificent Seven, CafePharma AZ reps have something else in mind:

"Group of 7.....
looser
fuck-head
cock-sucker
douche bag
traitor
sloppy cunt
dick wipe

Get the picture ass holes?
Selfish egotistical assholes. If you are so interested in doing the right thing why don't you all get into a circle jerk and then have a deep discussion to discuss your exit strategy from AZ."

Ah! That CafePharma aroma! I love the smell of CafePharma! That smell...you know, that genitalia smell.. It smells like...Victory!

Some day this mud slinging's going to end....

'Round the Sphere: Rost Rocks, AZ PR Meltdown, New Name Exposed

Does Peter Rost (Question Authority) rock your world or wreck it?

If your world is the pharmaceutical industry and the AstraZeneca corner of it in particular, you probably would say that he is wrecking your world.

To us bloggers in the Pharma Blogosphere^TM, however, Rost Rocks!

Think of Rost in his best "deep throat" outfit sitting on a park bench in Wilmington, DE (US headquarters of AstraZeneca). Mysterious people stop by and sit next to him for a few minutes and then leave. Rost throws some crumbs on the ground and immediately a flock of pigeons swoops in and gobbles them up!

But Rost doesn't have to go anywhere to "scoop" the likes of journalist bloggers like Ed Silverman (Pharmalot) and Jim Edwards (BrandweekNRX). He merely has to sit in fromt of his computer in NJ somewhere and groups of seven come to him with incriminating evidence.

From time to time I too have been a pigeon feasting on Rost's crumbs. It certainly has been fun.

The latest crumb is the Powerpoint presentation "smoking gun" and "proof of questionable promotional practices in connection with selling of AstraZeneca’s cancer drug ARIMIDEX ® (anastrozole)", according to Rost (see "The AstraZeneca Controversy Increases with More Proof of Questionable Practices").

Rost won't reveal who at AZ created this PPT. He quotes an internal AZ memo:

"Below you'll find the updated BIG 1-98 presentation put together by [name redacted] and myself for your background use. Please make sure that you study this information thoroughly. Hopefully it will make understanding the benefits of Arimidex over letrozole a little easier for all of us. We really worked on simplifying all of the data for your use."

If you dig a little deeper in this dirt, you may be able to find out who created the slides. All you have to do is ... and you will find this person's name, which is...[find it here in the comments section].

P.S. Sorry! Upon special request from a person of interest, the comment referred to above, which revealed the name of the person who may have prepared the smoking gun slide deck has be temporarily deleted.

Welcome "AZ Group of Seven"

There are at least 7 "honest AstraZeneca employees scattered around headquarters and field sales" according to a recent manifesto communicated to Peter Rost and published in Question Authority and Pharma Marketing Blog.

A new blog -- AZ Group of Seven -- has appeared in the Pharma Blogosphere. It's mission is to roam the Sphere picking up anonymous comments from the mysterious "AZ Group of Seven" (code named "whiskey").

If you are one of the "7 honest AstraZeneca employees" out there, you may submit comments anonymously to the AZ Group of Seven Blog! Even if you are not one of the seven employees or not even an AZ employee, but just want to pretend to be one, you are welcome to submit comments.

ONLY ANONYMOUS COMMENTS ACCEPTED!

Tell us what's it's like to be an honest AZ employee. Who are the jerks? Go ahead, name names! It's all good!