Pharmalot… Pharmalittle… Catching Up

And so another week comes to a close. We hope you enjoy yourself, but do check back to keep up with the American College of Cardiology conference. We would also like to note that Pharmalot was awarded Third Place in the Online/Trade category by the Association of Health Care Journalists for its May 2007 series entitled “Improper Marketing As An Infectious Disease,� which detailed allegations about inappropriate practices used to boost sales of a Pfizer AIDS drug. A hearty thanks to our... more

No, this isn’t the trial to be revealed and dissected at the American College of Cardiology conference in Chicago this weekend. That study, called Enhance, was already completed - and caused a huge ruckus ( back story ). But Schering-Plough and Merck, which jointly market Vytorin, hope to prove that a larger study dubbed Improve-It will show their cholesterol pill can outperform Zocor in preventing deaths, heart attacks and strokes. Initially, the trial - which enrolled its f... more

Federal agents have charged Pfizer’s global patent director with receiving, distributing and possessing child pornography and are holding him without bond, The Day reports. Alan Hesketh, who lives in Stonington, Connecticut, is accused of posing as a 28-year-old female while trading hundreds of images of children engaged in sexual acts. He allegedly traded the images with a man from Buffalo, while chatting with him online between June 2006 and May 2007. The two men discussed, “am... more

A study released this week found that the Prescription Drug and User Fee Act led to more recalls and an increased likelihood that a drug will receive a Black Box warning. The findings confirmed criticism that PDUFA is to blame for pushing the FDA to rush approvals and causing unanticipated safety problems. The study in The New England Journal of Medicine examined outcomes for drugs approved two months prior to their PDUFA dates and those approved at other times and found that after PDUFA... more