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.