Pharma Blog Watch
An
FDA smear campaign? (DrugWonks.com)
Did FDA officials work "hand in
glove" with Merck to discredit David Graham, a Vioxx whistleblower, as a
recent article in Bloomberg asserts? Blogger Peter Pitts discusses the
purported accusations traded between Graham and former FDA Commissioner Lester
Crawford, and the ways in which this dispute sullies the entire Vioxx issue.
Sidelined
by Plan B (EyeOnFDA.com)
Could Acting FDA Commissioner Andrew Von Eschenbach's
handling of Plan B hinder his confirmation as permanent FDA head? There's more
at stake than the actions of Eschenbach alone, writes blogger Mark Senak, in an
explication of how the FDA has lost and can reestablish credibility
amidst the Plan B debacle.
In-fighting
at J&J (Pharma Marketing Blog)
Johnson & Johnson seems to have
alienated its own Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), writes blogger John Mack, citing
a recent Wall Street Journal article that accuses the drugmaker of purposefully
delaying safety tests on its heart-failure drug Natrecor, angering some KOLs.
Mack discusses the influence of KOLs in the drug-development process and the pitfalls
of a combative relationship with these advisors.