Pharmaceutical Executive-01-01-2006

Arguments over DTC have become more sophisticated, and there is much more middle ground.

The omission of criminal charges for off-label promotion of Serostim is surprising, because the government's earlier plea with Pfizer sent a strong signal that it would criminally charge companies engaged in off-label marketing.

Leaders who are new on the job should get out of their nice offices and go sit with their direct reports. Sit with them in their spaces, over lunch or coffee-anyplace but your space. You want them to be completely comfortable.

Often, post-approval marketing studies don't materialize because drug companies question their value. Independent review of the need for such studies would address pharma's concern that they may be warranted.

At least five of the world's top pharma companies have specified, tested, or deployed large-scale Wi-Fi programs.

Patient materials should reflect what patients want to know in a language they can quickly understand.

Big Pharma's hiring slowdown is not translating into a growing demand for contract sales organizations.

To Janet Woodcock, Critical Path hasn't been dying, it's been getting work done."People shouldn't underestimate the difficulties of creating new models. A lot of things worth doing can't happen quickly."

Marketers can leverage thetransparency of the Web by listening in and mining thousands of conversations about their clients' brands.

FDA wants flexibility to use user-fee revenues to extend drug safety oversight, to review direct-to-consumer advertising before it goes public, and to modernize the ever longer and more complex drug development process.

Witnessing an industry's wild ride is perhaps the best reason to work for a business magazine. You've given us 25 years of excitement. And we plan to pay you back.

There was a time when Merck was looked upon as the granddaddy of all pharma companies. As the self-proclaimed oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company in the world, people wanted to work at Merck for its sterling reputation, excellent products, and job security.

Serious offenders of the new Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry's Code of Practice can be "named and shamed" with adverts in the trade press. Details of breaches by companies will be posted online.

Patient-Program Interface Nearly one-third (2.5 million) of the estimated eight million Americans currently enrolled in PAPs are over age 65 and will be eligible to participate in the government's Part D program.

As americans age, they are likely to suffer from more than one chronic condition at a time. So as the country's population grays, the rate at which patients presenting co-morbid indications will increase, as will the absolute number of patients whose treatment must be adjusted for more than one disease. These are not surprising facts, but they deserve careful consideration by pharma manufacturers and marketers.