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I recently caught up with an acquaintance at a friend's cocktail party. It had been a while since I had seen him; As a musician, he spent a lot of time away, playing shows and touring clubs. But he had since changed jobs. The bills had to get paid, so he decided to put his music career on hold and rejoin the pharma company he had worked for after college.

Industry self-policing may be the only way to stop state Legislators who want to ban sales Reps, and even whole companies, from using Prescribing information.

Media have become more fragmented than ever, and sales-force access to customers continues to decline. Pioneers must identify new solutions that improve on tradition.

Former GE CEO Jack Welch's no frills-and sometimes cutthroat-approach to business helped him make General Electric a $400-billion company by the end of his tenure in 2001. Though criticized for his desire to make GE a more competitive company, Welch is probably most admired for his leadership style. The CEO enjoyed tailored suits, private jets, and an eight-figure salary per year, but that didn't stop him from sitting face-to-face with a team of 15, 150, or 1,500 employees to talk about what they needed to do to make GE a better company. He knew the value of his team and customers, and he knew that strong leadership made for strong employees.

Imagine you're a college student cramming on the night before a big biology exam. You've missed some classes and need a tutor. So you call up the tutoring center and request a student to come help you. A tutor is at your door in an hour, but he's a history major, not a biology major. He claims his area of expertise doesn't matter since he knows how to teach. But you're up against a tight deadline, and reluctant to take his word for it.

May 2006 CE.

As seniors become frustrated and Part D enrollment lags, drug benefit plans cannot grow fast enough to manage risk. Some leave the market, and others cut benefits.

The investigators, other than the people at Merck, didn't know about [additional cardiovascular adverse events] for six months after the study was published. But one could argue we didn't have to know because it's not part of the predefined study.

In february, local news papers in the United Kingdom reported on disciplinary judgments made by the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) against four pharma manufacturers. The disciplinary actions consisted of public reprimands for three companies, and suspension from the association for at least six months for the fourth company.

The key is distinguishing between what the reps know with confidence versus what they will forget.

Changing Landscapes: A Special Report on the World?s Top 50 Pharma Companies

Pharma should comply with PDRP. If the program fails, a likely result is state legislation that proves even more restrictive.

Just how traditional marriages join a couple together from a common culture, Daiichi and Sankyo are merging based on a sense of having come from the same place, and facing the same future. But the art of integration lies in creating new ways of working that make the marriage bigger than the sum of its parts. Officiating the marriage is John Alexander, MD, head of pharma development for Daiichi Sankyo.

A new study details the physiological reasons why COX-2 inhibitorsincrease the risk of heart disease. Suppressing the production of one key fact does reduce pain, but it also deprives the body of a mechanism to curb blood clots, resist artery hardening, and regulate blood pressure.

During the past two weeks, companies from a half dozen states and three foreign lands joined forces. Here?s an update on who?s working with whom.

A federal district court ruled that FDA cannot fail to rule on a Sandoz's application for approval of omnitrope, a human growth hormone, just because it has no policy for generic biologics. Court watchers say the decision may help other generic biologics move forward in the approvals process.

Because of poor compliance, 25% of all patients who are prescribed medicines derive no clinical benefit whatsoever.

Challenges of business...

patient compliance

achema product profiles

innovex

clinphone

Elsevier Launches Inteleos Drug Tracking and Analysis Tool

marketRx sets up European Headquarters in Reading, UK

New research shows that travel to and from work is important in spreading influenza from city to city and state to state.

Industry experts weigh in on what could be the resolution of a long saga.

Psychiatrists offer insight on the second phase of results from a National Institutes of Health study comparing different anti-psychotic drugs.

Drug companies can do to specialists what Intel did to PC box makers: commoditize them.

Big Pharma now has a powerful competitor. If firms want to have a sporting chance in that war, they need to think about why biotech is so appealing.

It's not closing time, but it does seem like the nine-year, direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertising happy hour is winding down. PhRMA's new Guiding Principles are dimming the lights, and television, the most glamorous and visible media channel for DTC, will have to turn down the volume.