Sometime back, Effect Measure posed a question many of us have pondered about direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharmaceutical commercials: What’s with the side-by-side bath tubs in the Cialis ads?
Here are some of the answers given in comments –

“Cialis really gets your pipes flowing or plumbing flowing…”
“Bathtubs — because you can’t show naked, mutually aroused adults on the [...]

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I read the following disturbing Q&A in Joe and Teresa Graedon’s People’s Pharmacy column this morning:
Q: I once worked for a pharmaceutical company that ordered a raw ingredient, diphen-hydramine, from China. I was a quality-assurance inspector and had to inspect incoming material.
That ingredient was trashy, with what looked like a lot of floor sweepings and [...]

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When the topic of Americans buying drugs from Canadian pharmacies comes up, one company whose name is rarely mentioned is Google. That’s odd to me, since (1) Google is such a news magnet, and (2) without Google, far fewer Americans would be buying their prescription drugs from Canadian pharmacies.
Big Pharma despises Google for [...]

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Despite celebrity endorsements courtesy of Photoshop (above), and a real endorsement by eDrugSearch.com and others, Pfizer whistleblower Dr. Peter Rost came up short in his bid to become the next FDA commissioner. President Obama on Saturday announced the selection of Dr. Margaret Hamburg for the top food and drug post.
We knew Peter was a longshot [...]

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The Day of New London, Conn., has a nice article on Dr. Peter Rost’s bid for FDA commissioner. Here’s an excerpt referencing our interview with Peter:

If Pfizer Inc. were to describe its worst nightmare, it might very well be seeing former company whistleblower Peter Rost become commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
So [...]

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It should come as no surprise to readers of this blog that we are delighted about the prospect of a new FDA commissioner in 2009 — one who we hope will put the interests of the people above those of large pharmaceutical companies.
We have also been pleasantly surprised to see the groundswell of [...]

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An Associated Press analysis last week concluded that millions of Americans are being prescribed drugs — including those covered under Medicaid — that have never been reviewed by the FDA for safety and effectiveness. The FDA admits there may be thousands of such drugs on the market. Reports the AP:
“At a time when families, [...]

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John Mack of Pharma Marketing News is asking who should be the next FDA commish. His survey walks you through some of the top contenders, including:

Robert Califf, vice chancellor for clinical research and professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology at Duke.
Dora Hughes, Health Policy Advisor to Senator Barack Obama.
David Kessler, former FDA Commissioner.
Steve [...]

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From the Wall Street Journal Law Blog:

After the arguments wrapped up in Wyeth v. Levine…we called around and spoke to a couple lawyers who were present at the scene. Based on those convos, and an AP report, we were able to cobble together an overview of the back-and-forthing…
…the Justices took issue with Wyeth’s argument that [...]

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People’s Pharmacy is an excellent syndicated column that you should definitely check out if you aren’t already reading it. If it’s not in your hometown paper, you can find them online here. The writers, Joe and Terry Graedon, have been impassioned advocates for healthcare consumers for more than 30 years.
(Here’s what the Graedons [...]

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