Pharma Industry Archive

Procter & Gamble’s Olay, Vicks and Sinex nasal spray OTC and pseudo-drug brands have been condemned as “filthy,” “microbial,” and “insanitary,” by the FDA. In a warning letter dated April 24, the FDA told P&G that an inspection of its Puerto Rico Olay factory revealed: … that your OTC drug products have been prepared, packed and held under...

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Nothing brings out the opportunistic side of the biotech industry like a good healthcare crisis, and swine flu was no exception. As the face masks multiplied, so did the self-promotional press releases from biotech bandwagon-jumpers seeking a little fame and fortune. At the leading edge of the potential pandemic was Replikins. The Boston-based start-up grabbed headlines late last month by...

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U.S. Rep. Jim Moran has introduced a bill that would ban ED ads on TV between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m, according to Ad Age. The ban would obviously affect Pfizer, Bayer and Eli Lilly, who all market ED drugs, in addition to “diet supplement” marketers with brands such as Enzyte and Extenze. If you read the comments thread under the Age item, you can see that consumers really dislike...

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Merck dermatology marketing director Kevin Nalty’s week seems to be getting worse: After he was “outed” as the author of hundreds of comedic YouTube videos — including one titled “Farting in Public” — Pharma Marketing Blogger John Mack has located one in which he makes fun of ADHD (video below). The spot, titled “ADHD Public Service...

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Carl Icahn’s shareholder presentation in the fight for control of Amylin’s board of directors says that the company’s joint venture with Eli Lilly on diabetes drug Byetta should be torn up and renegotiated. Yesterday, BNET looked at the duelling shareholder presentations of Amylin and Eastbourne Capital; today we’ll compare Amylin and Carl Icahn’s arguments....

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Merck made a “hit list” of doctors who criticized Vioxx, according to testimony in a Vioxx class action case in Australia. The list, emailed between Merck employees, contained doctors’ names with the labels “neutralise,” “neutralised” or “discredit” next to them. According to The Australian, Merck emails from 1999 showed company execs...

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Amylin and Eastbourne Capital, locked in a fight for control of Amylin’s board of directors, have escalated their war in the only way that beancounters know how: duelling presentations. You can see Amylin’s here and a summary of Eastbourne’s here. Eastbourne has kept it simple: It’s all about the stock price: Amylin’s shares have fallen over 75%, from a peak of $51.43...

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Merck dermatology marketing director Kevin Nalty has a side job: as a YouTube comedy star. Mediaweek thinks his output — which includes a bit titled “Farting in Public” — is “sophomoric” but Ad Age’s Bob Garfield regards him as “quite hilarious.” (Context: “Farting in public” has had over 1 million hits.) Nalty’s fame has...

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Amylin says it will lay off 200 drug sales reps, or 35 percent of its force, in order to save $45 billion in costs. The move is an embarrassing U-turn for Amylin, which only days ago was arguing fiercely that after laying off 340 people last November it had cut jobs enough, and that further cuts would “undermine” the launch of Byetta once-weekly. Amylin made that point in response...

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Consumer Reports says TV commercials for Roche and GlaxoSmithKline’s Boniva osteoporosis treatment are “misleading.” (Video below.) The watchdog group has road-tested a bunch of drug ads and not liked what it found. The CR format is amusing — they play sections of the ad and CR associate editor Jamie Kopf Hirsch provides a sarcastic commentary. In terms of the Boniva...

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