Merck - Vioxx: Call Raymond Gilmartin

Former Merck & Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Raymond Gilmartin (pic) has agreed to a plaintiff lawyers' request that he testify at a Vioxx trial slated to begin in Atlantic City in late February, both sides said.

Plaintiff lawyer Mark Lanier said he requested Gilmartin's presence and intends to call him because "when you have to look a jury in the eye it is harder to fudge."

Gilmartin has given testimony in videotaped depositions, but Lanier said that it is always better to have a live witness than a tape. He called the depositions "canned speeches" and said it is harder for witnesses to give soliloquies or avoid questions in the presence of a judge.

Lanier said he intends to ask Gilmartin questions that weren't asked in depositions but wouldn't specify what they were.

Insiders' view: If anyone can shake Gilmartin it will be Mark Lanier.

http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/business/13758023.htm

Drug development summit - LOL

Take a look at the "keynote speakers":

John L. LaMattina, PhD, President Pfizer Global Research and Development, Pfizer
Jeffrey Elton, PhD, COO & Head of Strategy, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research
Jack H. Dean, Ph.D., Sc.D., D.A.B.T, Fellow A.T.S., President, US Science & Medical Affairs, Head, Global Preclinical Development, Sanofi-Aventis Group
Robert R. Ruffolo, Jr, PhD, President, Research & Development, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, SVP, Wyeth Corporation
Lee Babiss, PhD, VP, Preclinical Research & Development, Roche
Jan M. Lundberg, PhD, EVP, Global Discovery Research, AstraZeneca
Brian Daniels, MD, Senior VIce President, Clinical Development, Bristol-Myers Squibb
Dr. Catherine Strader, EVP, Discovery Research, Schering-Plough Research Institute

Exactly! LOL.
http://www.drugdevelopmentsummit.com/

Big Bucks, Big Pharma - a "blockbuster" feature coming soon

Big Bucks, Big Pharma pulls back the curtain on the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry to expose the insidious ways that illness is used, manipulated, and in some instances created, for capital gain.

Media scholars and health professionals help viewers understand the ways in which direct-to-consumer (DTC) pharmaceutical advertising glamorizes and normalizes the use of prescription medication, and works in tandem with both industry-sponsored medical education/research and promotion to doctors. Combined, these industry practices shape how both patients and doctors understand and relate to disease and treatment.

Ultimately, Big Bucks, Big Pharma challenges us to ask important questions about the consequences of relying on a for-profit industry for our health and well-being.

Featuring interviews with Dr. Marcia Angell (Dept. of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Former Editor New England Journal of Medicine), Dr. Bob Goodman (Columbia University Medical Center; Founder, No Free Lunch), Gene Carbona (Former Pharmaceutical Industry Insider and Current Executive Director of Sales, The Medical Letter), Katharine Greider (Journalist; Author, The Big Fix: How the Pharmaceutical Industry Rips Off American Consumers,), Dr. Elizabeth Preston (Dept. of Communication, Westfield State College), and Dr. Larry Sasich (Public Citizen Health Research Group).

Coming Spring 2006, Order from the Media Education Foundation

Hat -tip: Healthy Skepticism

Merck - Vioxx: the hard sell is investigated

Poor Merck. They have received a civil investigative demand from a group of Attorneys General representing 31 states and the District of Columbia.

These guys are are probing as to whether Merck violated state consumer protection laws when marketing Vioxx.

The company is "cooperating" with the investigation.

Insiders' view: This should flush out the whistleblower reps and marketeers. A share of any settlement will go to whistleblowers who help the investigation.

There's money in Vioxx still for some lucky Merck employees!!

Cheerleader drug rep quotes

Sanofi Aventis - Ketek: liver warning

The EMEA posted a press release on its website Friday and asked sanofi-aventis to revise labeling for antibiotic Ketek to include stronger warnings for liver disorders. The EMEA reviewed cases of serious liver injury associated with use of Ketek.

The EMEA said its actions are precautionary. There have been reports of serious acute hepatitis, including liver failure, some of which were fatal. The serious liver reactions started during or immediately after using Ketek and in most cases were reversible after patients stopped taking the drug.

Merck - Vioxx: Big, but not so Easy, retrial

The judge overseeing the first federal Vioxx trial has asked the lawyers involved in the case not to talk to reporters.

Attorneys for Merck and for Evelyn Plunkett, whose husband died of a heart attack after taking Vioxx for a month, met with Judge Fallon for two hours Friday afternoon.

Fallon also imposed an informal gag before the first federal trial, which ended with the verdict hung 8-1 in Merck's favor. It will be retried starting Feb. 6 in New Orleans.

Merck's fourth quarter net income rose 2 percent as the drug company announced it set aside an additional $295 million for legal defense costs related to its withdrawn painkiller Vioxx.

Insiders' view: The first trial was hung because of the NEJM issue breaking when it did. The plaitiffs' lawyers must be bolstered by this.

Exubera-nt Tony

"Remind me again. Do I blow or suck?..............."

You suck Tony, believe me....... you suck!

Exubera

Hat Tip: IS

Home is where the Herceptin is

Aussie breast cancer patient Tania Calley has been forced to sell the family home in a desperate bid to buy the expensive drug Herceptin.The brave mother of four needs to find up to $70,000 to get the drug.

"The money that I should be spending on bringing up my kids will be spent on this drug," the Shepparton mum said.

For women like Ms Calley, in the early stages of breast cancer, the drug is not subsidised by the Australian Federal Government.

Victoria Herald Sun

Bribery in Italy - now there's a surprise!

MILAN (Reuters) - Magistrates in the southern city of Bari are investigating the Italian businesses of AstraZeneca , Novartis , Bristol-Myers Squibb and Recordati , the drug companies said on Monday.

Judicial sources said magistrates planned to ask for the suspension of activities of the Italian units of eight pharmaceutical firms for an alleged 20 million euro ($24.2 million) fraud over bribing doctors to prescribe their drugs.

Insiders' view: Pass me a chair before I faint with amazement! Clearly the graft didn't get high enough up the food chain to reach the Magistrates' Office! Tsk, tsk. Someone's head will roll for that mistake!

Serono - there may be an auction after all

Now that the price has come down by $3 billion, could it be that J&J are also interested?

Insider hears whispers that that might be the case.

GSK may have to bid in an auction after all!!

Consumer Reports' "Dirty Dozen" Drugs

Consumer Reports recently ran an article noting 12 commonly used drugs they have identified as having known or suspected serious risks that were undetected or underestimated when the FDA approved them.

Their "dirty dozen" are: celecoxib (Celebrex), estrogen (when taken alone), isotretinoin (Accutane), malathion (Ovide), medroxyprogesterone injections (Depo Provera), mefloquine (Lariam), rosuvastatin (Crestor), salmeterol (Serevent), sibutramine (Meridia), SSRIs such as sertraline (Zoloft), venlafaxine (Effexor), tegaserod (Zelnorm) and topical immunosuppressant pimecrolimus (Elidel).

Consumer Reports

Happy Chinese New Year

Dog at a stream, by Lang Shining

Doctors - Beware of reps bearing gifts

Is it an idea whose time is coming: doctors saying "NO" to gifts from drug reps? The answer could be "YES"!

The practice of drug reps bearing any type of gift should be stopped, some physicians say in a recent article in JAMA.

Big Pharma spend vast sums of money to court doctors - way more than they do on research - it seems as though the companies are the most important part of that system, and that the doctors come in second.

So where's the benefit for patients?

That is exactly the concern raised in the Journal report.

Most of the gifts doctors ordinarily receive are modest in value: a box of pens or writing pads promoting a drug, for instance. However, sometimes doctors are given vacations, golfing trips, or hefty consultancy contracts.

Most patients never find out. If they did, they'd probably go into shock over the goodies doctors accept. Big Pharma estimates that it spends about $5.7 billion a year on marketing directly to physicians, which works out to about $6,000 to $7,000 per doctor. That is probably an understimate.

Dr. Stephen Cha is an internist and a Robert Wood Johnson clinical scholar at Yale University School of Medicine. He wrote an interseting piece in the Washington Post last year:

"As a medical student, a colleague of mine once walked into the offices of a practice where she was working and unexpectedly found herself at a party. Food, trinkets, pens and coffee mugs were being handed out to the whole office staff, about 20 people including med students and doctors -- all courtesy of Merck & Co. And to the physician who was the number one prescriber of Vioxx in the entire region that year, a marketing rep of the company awarded a pair of Philadelphia Eagles season tickets."

It's worrisome that imposition of a ban on such gifts may not lead to much real change. Enforcement could be a problem. It should probably be a matter for professional ethics rather than legislation, in Insiders' opinion.

The best hope might be for medical schools, teaching hospitals, and medical associations such as the American Medical Association to condemn such practices as unethical.

Of course, doctors' groups could follow the example set by Kaiser Permanente and a few other managed-care organizations, which have already adopted the recommendations. It seems to work ok in California.

Insiders' view: It is rapidly becoming a professional issue that wont go away. Visit No Free Lunch to sign the pledge! You know it makes sense.

Start to make accepting gifts a professional matter. The public should ask difficult questions of doctors that still accept gifts and see reps.

Marcia Angell, MD, former editor in chief of The New England Journal of Medicine, and author of the book The Truth About the Drug Companies (see review) comes to mind. She urges readers to ask their doctors this question: "Do you make time for visits from drug company representatives?"

If the answer is yes, Angell says you should consider changing doctors.

Sources: Toledo Blade , Boston Herald

After Exubera comes Inebra!

Unconfirmed Sources have the inside scoop on this new development!

Old drug ads contd.

Two winners from Lilly! Diethylstilboestrol and dextropropoxyphene!

Cheerleader drug reps quote

GSK - Now could it be Glaxo Serono Kline?

According to The Independent on Sunday, GlaxoSmithKline has emerged as the favourite to buy Swiss biotech firm Serono for a knockdown $12bn (£7bn) after an attempt to auction the business collapsed.

Serono's chief executive, Ernesto Bertarelli, put the group up for sale by asking for bids for the 62 per cent stake owned by his family. A valuation of $15bn was put on the company, which makes a multiple sclerosis drug, Rebif, and infertility treatments.

An auction attracted interest from GSK, Novartis of Switzerland and America's Pfizer, among others. But by the closing date for bids a week ago, none had put in a firm offer.
However, it has emerged that the sale process is not dead, with talks still going on. GSK is understood to be the preferred bidder, though a spokesman for the UK-based giant declined to comment.

Daniel Vasella, chief executive of Novartis, which was seen as an early favourite to buy Serono, signalled last week that it would be cautious about acquisitions, saying that vendors were inflating prices. It recently walked away from a deal to buy the Swiss drugs group Berna Biotech.

Serono's shares have fallen back from a high of Sfr1098 (£484) to Sfr973 on Friday. At that price, the group is valued at around $11.5bn.

GSK is keen to bolster its drug pipeline and believes it can increase Serono's annual sales of $2.5bn by more effective marketing. Even so, GSK shareholders may consider Serono an expensive purchase at more than 20 times earnings.

Mr Bertarelli is best known for bankrolling the famous Swiss victory in the America's Cup yacht race in 2003. This gave the landlocked country the right to decide where the competition should be staged in 2007, and it has decided that it should be held at Valencia in Spain.

It will be the first time in 156 years that the America's Cup has taken place in Europe.

Insiders' view: This has more twists and turns than a soap opera. The Bertarelli family must come to terms with the new valuation of Serono - $3.5 billion short of initial expectations.

Dont forget that both Mercks' and Pfizers' CEOs are in Davos at the moment as well.

This could be when the gloves come off and the real auction starts!

Source: The Independent

The 2006 Bitter Pill Awards - April 26th

The Bitter Pill Awards, scheduled for April 26th in Washington D.C., use humor to highlight the serious problems caused by drug industry marketing, particularly direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of prescription drugs.

DTCA includes television, radio, magazine and internet ads that target consumers directly, rather than targeting doctors.

The drug industry spends more than $4 billion a year advertising brand-name prescription drugs to consumers. For every dollar that drug companies spend on consumer advertising, they earn an estimated $4.20 in sales.

This means that in 2004, the drug industry's consumer ad campaigns earned them up to $16.8 billion in extra profits from expensive, brand-name drugs.

The Awards originally began as a parody of an annual event called the " DTC National Advertising Awards " in which the drug industry congratulates itself on another successful year of advertising expensive brand-name drugs to consumers.

The Bitter Pill Awards aims to educate the public, the press and politicians about the dangers of runaway drug marketing, the need for consumers to be skeptical about drug industry propaganda, and the need for the FDA and Congress to more closely regulate drug ads.

Nominations are now open (also see last years "winners"- LOL):

http://www.bitterpillawards.org/

Cheerleader drug rep quotes

Pfizer - Exubera: waiting to inhale

The EU decision to approve Pfizers' inhaled insulin Exubera on Thursday has come just before the FDA is expected to make its own determination on its future in the U.S.

The press release says:

"Exubera is a fast-acting, dry powder formulation of human insulin that is inhaled into the lungs via the mouth before meals using a simple-to-use, hand-held device that does not require batteries or electricity. The device,which weighs four ounces and is about the size of a carrying case for a pairof eye glasses, is designed to deliver an accurate and precise dose of insulin each time it is used."

But check out the "Important Safety Information" at the end (clearly Pfizers' lawyers have been all over this).

Insiders' view: I'm still worried about this one. It's a lot to ask of new technology in an unforgiving disease. The key will be patient selection and clear instructions as to when Exubera might not work.

Let's hope it's not oversold.

Pachey - a star is born

Pachey did the BBC whale spoof as well! LOL. A star is born in the blogosphere.

US healthcare - death of a dinosaur?

From The Economist:

America's health system is a monster. It is by far the world's most expensive: the United States spent $1.9 trillion on health in 2004, or 16% of GDP, almost twice as much as the OECD average.
Health care in America is not nearly as rooted in the private sector as people assume (one way or another, more than half the bill ends up being paid by the state). But it is the only rich country where a large chunk of health care is paid for by tax-subsidised employer-based insurance.

But.

With medical inflation far outpacing inflation in general, American firms are scaling back the health coverage they offer. The share of workers who receive health insurance from their own employer has fallen from almost 70% in the late 1970s to around 50% today. In the past five years, the proportion of firms offering medical benefits has fallen from 70% to 60%, with the steepest decline among small firms and those employing the low-skilled.

Do you think GWB will be able to fix it? Nope, neither do I. Nor does The Economist:

Mr Bush's health-care philosophy has a certain political appeal. It suggests incremental change rather than a comprehensive solution. It reinforces existing industry trends. And it promises to be pain-free. Unfortunately, it will not work. The Bush agenda may speed the reform of American health care, but only by hastening the day the current system falls apart.

Mozart - born 250 years ago today

A child prodigy who wrote his first symphony at age 8, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart grew into a prolific composer who wrote over 600 pieces of music. Among his most famous works are Eine kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music, 1787) and the operas Don Giovanni (1787) and Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute, 1791).

Mozart died of a mysterious fever at age 35; some have speculated that Mozart was murdered, perhaps by rival composer Antonio Salieri, but no proof exists to support that theory. In 2000 a scholarly panel concluded that Mozart had died of rheumatic fever.

Whale watch - the aftermath continues

The Japaneese translation is selling particularly well!

Medtronic - a night at the ballet, anyone?

Poor Medtronic. Another day another whistleblower suit.

This one looks nailed on as it comes from Jacqueline Kay Poteet, a former employee at the company who made all the bookings and travel arrangements.

When the doctors visited Memphis, she said, Medtronic employees would take them to a local strip club, PlatinumPlus, disguising the expenses as an evening at the ballet.

The suit, which was sealed until Jan. 13, accuses Medtronic of giving spine surgeons "excessive remuneration, unlawful perquisites and bribes in other forms for purchasing goods and medical devices."

A prominent surgeon in Wisconsin was paid $400,000 a year by Medtronic for a consulting contract requiring him to work just eight days. Another doctor in Virginia received nearly $700,000 in consulting fees from Medtronic for the first nine months of 2005.

Read more here

So, if J & J aren't buying Guidant....

..... who are they going to buy?

All are children of Adam

NEW YORK, Jan. 25 - A large proportion of Ashkenazi Jews and North African Arabs with Parkinson’s disease carry the same single gene mutation, according to two studies.

The mutation -- apparently derived from a single “founder” individual several centuries ago -- was found in 18.3% of a cohort of 120 Ashkenazi Jews treated for Parkinson’s at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Beth Israel Medical Center.

The same mutation was found in 39% of a cohort of 76 Arabs with the disease, French researchers said. Both studies were published as letters in the Jan. 26 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Cheerleader drug rep quotes

Merck and Serono - Could it happen?

Merck is ready to acquire large biotech companies with established sales to boost its business and swell the pipeline of experimental medicines, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

"As part of our strategy going forward we are aggressively looking at alliances and join ventures and acquisitions of biotech companies," Richard Clark told Reuters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"I'm not only looking for late-stage compounds, or the ability to help our scientific advantage. We're also looking to have a company that has in-line revenue and that has stable products to begin with," he added.

Now why else might Clark be in Switzerland?

Source: Ben Hirschler

UPDATE: 21/09/06 Merck KGaA are buying Serono...........

Go here for the latest PharmaGossip

Merck - Round 1 of Vioxx IV: The Battle of Rio Grande

Joe Escobedo, an attorney for the family of a Rio Grande City man, Leonel Garza, who died of a heart attack in 2001, told jurors in opening statements that Vioxx’s manufacturer, Merck & Co., simply kept the drug on the market to reap its profit.

Escobedo cited the company’s own studies and internal e-mails he said he plans to introduce as evidence.

"Merck cared more about whether Vioxx lived than whether the people on Vioxx lived," he said.

The company never studied how the drug would affect people like his client, who suffered from heart disease. Yet, an "army of sales reps" marketed Vioxx to cardiologists and the elderly. The jury doesn’t have to find that Vioxx alone caused Garza's heart attack, only that it was a contributing cause, Escobedo said.

But wait, Merck come out fighting:

"Garza’s severe heart disease caused his death, not Vioxx," said Richard Josephson, an attorney for Merck. He said Garza’s widow is "confused" and gave contradicting testimony about her late husband’s medicine.

Also the prescribing doctors' lawyer has a point:

"The major problem they have is he wasn’t taking Vioxx," said the doctors’ attorney, Robert Hole, in his opening statements to the jury. Hole said Garza’s widow changed her testimony after speaking with her attorneys and that the doctors were familiar with Merck’s risks.

So thats nice and clear.

Bring on the main attraction: Calling Dr Alise Reicin!

Source:Brittney Booth

Proof - PharmaGossip will save lives

Well, as long as you laugh at Insiders' jokes!.

A new study shows that laughter actually increases blood flow in the body, proving right the old adage that laughter is the best medicine, at least when it comes to the heart.

Scientific American

BMS - Ouch!

"Bristol's earnings recovery depends on upholding the patent on Plavix, and the odds are only 60-40 in its favor," said Deutsche Bank analyst Barbara Ryan. "If Bristol loses, it would have to cut its dividend and even sell the company."

See how mixed the latest figures are here

Insiders' view: Roll on April. At least it's after the Ides of March!

How true 4 - Whale watch; the aftermath

Statins - NICE work, if you can get it

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has today issued guidance to the NHS in England and Wales on the use of statins for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in adults and for the treatment of adults with established CVD.

The guidance, which is set to benefit millions of adults in England and Wales, recommends that statins be used either where there is clinical evidence of an individual having CVD, or where the risk of an individual developing CVD within 10 years is estimated to be 20% or greater.

Read their press release here.

Insiders' view: Watch out for the stampede!

Some 1.8 million people already receive these drugs on the NHS.

Now an extra 3.3 million people in the UK now become eligible for these cholesterol-busting drugs, thanks to these new NHS guidelines.

There must be adequate controls in place to ensure that this bonanza is one for generic statins rather than expensive brands.

NICE - Quick Reference Guide

Sanofi Aventis - The end of the Plavix gravy train?

Poor Sanofi Aventis. The FDA has just approved the first generic version of their blood-thinning drug Plavix (clopidogrel).

The generic version is made by Canada-based Apotex Inc. The FDA's decision allows Apotex to begin selling the drug in the U.S.

Plavix is marketed in the US by both Sanofi-Aventis and BMS.

Sanofi and Bristol-Myers have sued Apotex in federal court to prevent the company from selling the drug and have alleged the generic drug violates one of the U.S. patents on Plavix that lasts until 2011. The trial is set for April 3 in federal court in New York.

Insiders' view: this blood thinner is also thin on evidence!

i-won

Merck - Another Vioxx trial begins with jury selection

A tough one for Mercks' lawyers?
i-won.com

Old drug ads - weight loss

Methamphetamine (with or without a side order of phenobarb). Weight loss drugs from a different era.

Pertinent now that Alli (orlistat OTC) has got the nod from an FDA expert panel!

Quite different side effect profiles!!!

GSK - Alli - Public Citizen urge a big fat NO

"There is no magic pill for weight loss and Alli (orlistat) is not a magic pill. Orlistat is a tool that will help people control their calorie intake and modify their diet," said John Dent, GSK's senior vice president of research and development. John proposed that the OTC version of Alli (pronounced "ally"), would contain half the dose of the prescription capsule.

Two FDA advisory committees were to vote on recommending approval late Monday.

The agency usually follows the nonbinding recommendations of its outside panels of experts.
An earlier, internal FDA review found the drug is a "safe and effective weight loss agent," but held off on concluding whether it should be sold without a prescription.

The review found that over-the-counter use of the drug could lead to vitamin deficiencies and encourage abuse.

On Monday, FDA panel members questioned whether consumers would be able to distinguish Alli from non-approved dietary supplements also sold as weight-loss aids. They also expressed concern about its effect on vitamin intake.

Public Citizens' Dr Sidney Wolfe, urged the FDA not to deregulate the medicine. His presentation can be seen here:

http://www.citizen.org/documents/orlistat_testimony_wolfe.pdf

SkyePharma - "over promising; under delivering" chairman goes!

British drug delivery firm SkyePharma said on Monday its founder and chairman Ian Gowrie-Smith was resigning following a move by some investors to oust him.

A group of investors led by North Atlantic Value said on Friday that Gowrie-Smith was heavily responsible for a strategy of "over-promising on performance but under-delivering."

SkyePharma is in the midst of a strategic review which could lead to its sale. But an industry source told Reuters earlier this month it was more likely that one of the firm's three units would be spun off with the rest run by a new chief exewcutive.

Insiders' view: a few other "over promising but under delivering" Chairmen might have an anxiety attack today!

Source: Reuters

Big Pharma - how to fool all of the people all of the time

A.J. Viscomi, vice president, strategic planning, for Harte-Hanks, a worldwide, direct, database and digital marketing company with pharmaceutical industry clients has a plan.

A plan for Big Pharma. Ah ha!

It's in Brandweek, the ad industry bugle, so it must be good.

It's a nine-point-plan.........even better! Nine is, of course, the new ten.

It's called "How to Restore Big Pharmas' Image".......marvellous stuff!

Have a read. It's probably best read sitting down, alone, when you are having a few moments "quality time" if you catch my drift!

At this point Insider usually reaches for his "cynics hat" and posts some cutting words on Big Pharmas' Big Problem. But on this occasion he will resist the temptation as A.J. says it all near the end of the piece:

"Drug marketing is no longer only about running TV ads and sending sales reps to call on doctors. Gone are the days of, "I have more reps, so I will win." Doctors are genuinely open to hearing about new drugs, but pharma giants shouldn't ply them with gifts and trips to win trial. Be honest and fair in your research and let innovation win the day."

Good grief!

How did this by the editors of Brandweek?

Things must be bad out there in La La Land.

How to fool all of the people all of the time

Heeeyyyy dude - wanna catch some waves and buy some drugs?

Poor Big Pharma execs. In order to court senior biotech thought leaders who are also "surfer dudes" they are having to put away their drivers and putters, leave the golf club, head for the beach and wax up a surfboard in order to get "face time" with these people.

Ouch! LOL

Read it here:

mercurynews.com

An honest politician - a definition

"An honest politician is one who, once they are bought, stays bought!" Insider believes this quote came from Abe Lincoln's campaign manager/agent. But he is willing to be corrected.

At last count, Big Pharma had 1,274 of the 35,000 registered lobbyists in Washington or more than two lobbyists for each member of Congress.

Between 1998 and 2005, the industry spent a whopping $758 million on lobbying, according to the watchdog Center for Public Integrity.

Source: theday.com

Old drug ads contd

Insider would like to point out that this is NOT him...........yet!

How marketing works

You're a lady and you see a handsome guy at a party. You go up to him and say, "I'm fantastic in bed."

That's Direct Marketing.

You're at a party with a bunch of friends and see a handsome guy. One of your friends goes up to him and, pointing at you, says, "She's fantastic in bed."

That's Advertising.

You see a handsome guy at a party. You go up to him and get his telephone number. The next day you call him & say, "Hi, I'm fantastic in bed."

That's Telemarketing.

You see a guy at a party, you straighten your dress. You walk up to him and pour him a drink. You say, "May I?" and reach up to straighten his tie, brushing your breast lightly against his arm, and then say, "By the way, I'm fantastic in bed."

That's Public Relations.

You're at a party and see a handsome guy. He walks up to you and says,"I hear you're fantastic in bed."

That's Brand Recognition.

You're at a party and see a handsome guy. He fancies you, but you talk him into going home with your friend.

That's Sales.

Your friend can't satisfy him so she calls you.

That's Tech Support.

You're on your way to a party when you realize that there could be handsome men in all these houses you're passing. So you climb onto the roof of one situated near the center of the block & shout at the top ofyour lungs, "I'm fantastic in bed!"

That's Junk Mail.

You're at a party when a well-built man walks up to you and gropes your breast and grabs your ass.

That's the Governor of California.

You like it, but 20 years later your attorney decides you were offended and he files a lawsuit on your behalf.

That's America.

Hat-tip: Anon

Constant success

"The Constant Gardener," a thriller about corruption in the pharmaceutical industry, had 10 nominations for the British Academy film awards. including best film, director, actor and actress.

Insiders' film of the year!

How to make a $2.4 billion "windfall"

This is quite amazing!

Billionaire and former surgeon Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong is a majority shareholder in American Pharma.

He also has a controlling interest in American BioScience.

By getting one to take over the other he has, in effect, created a windfall of $2.4 billion for himself.

Minority shareholders of American Pharmaceutical Partners get left holding the bag.

Only in America!

http://www.thestreet.com/_tsclsii/comment/investing/10262537.html

CRJ criticism of NYT

Thanks to a tip off Insider has now discovered the marvellous Columbia Journalism Review.

Read this excellent crit of a piece about Acomplia in the New York Times.

CRJ

Calling all cheerleader reps - a new club

Entry requirements and qualifications? Nah! Just send Insider a photo.

Drug ads - the good old days

This follows on from here: heated debate

US generics - rapidly adopted say Medco

According to an analysis of prescription claims released today by Medco Health Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: MHS), total generic dispensing rates for allergy medicine Allegra topped 87 percent within 30 days after generics became available.

The average generic fill rate at retail pharmacies for the group was more than 86 percent; at Medco’s mail-service pharmacies the rate averaged 95 percent.

Pfizers' antibiotic Zithromax, the most recent and largest of four major drugs to move off patent, obtained an unprecedented generic dispensing rate at retail pharmacies of more than 90 percent as of the first week in January.

The patent on Zithromax expired on Nov. 1, 2005 and three generic versions of the drug received approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on November 14.

Pharmalive

Insiders' view: The US has increasingly been seen by Big Pharma as their golden goose. They have felt free to fleece the American public and charge way more for medicines than in the Europe and Canada. That may not be the case for much longer. It's part of the problem Insider has commented on before.

Within the next five years nearly 70 brand-name drugs, including 19 blockbusters such as Zocor collectively accounting for more than $45 billion in U.S. sales are anticipated to become available as generics.

These conversion rates to generics must make Big Pharma shudder! Especially since their new "blockbuster" pipeline is so dry!

PhRMA and The Karasik Conspiracy continues to be a page turner

The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) just can't get out of its own way.

Now, through its consultant Mark Barondess, PhRMA is threatening to seek a court order to recall every copy of The Karasik Conspiracy, a new thriller published to the influential lobbying group's great dismay.

This is the novel Big Pharma, through its PhRMA mouthpiece, first tried to commission, then control and finally kill!

The whole affair is of PhRMA's making: they secretly commissioned a thriller novel whose aim was to scare the living daylights out of folks who might want to buy cheap drugs from Canada.

Barondess is also demanding that emails he wrote to the publisher and authors be removed from the book's web site.

Core First Amendment protections are at risk as the dispute pits one of America's richest and most powerful lobbying groups against Phoenix Books, a small publisher with only a fraction of PhRMA's resources.

The outcome could profoundly affect the rights of a free press.

Read about all the latest twists and turns, written by Kenin Spivak (one of the novels authors), here:

The Huffington Post

Insiders' view: Buy a copy now, as they might become collectors items sooner than anyone thought! Also, save the emails off the website!

Merck - company lawyers fire up the barbie

Watch out NEJM! The Merck lawyers are coming to call.

A current editor and former editor of the New England Journal of Medicine, which last month criticized drug maker Merck for withholding data from a published study on its withdrawn painkiller Vioxx, are due to be grilled next week.

The editors subpoenaed include editor in chief Dr. Jeffrey M. Drazen and executive editor Dr. Gregory D. Curfman.

The depositions, ahead of the next round of product liability trials over Merck's former blockbuster arthritis pill, will be held next Tuesday and Wednesday, Paul Shaw, an attorney representing the editors.

Insiders' view: Name, rank and serial number only!

http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/business/13655389.htm

GSK - A non-non executive director

"GlaxoSmithKline plc (GSK) today announced, that following the disclosure of a potential conflict of interest, Dr Ralph Horwitz has decided not to take up his appointment as a Non-Executive Director of the Board of the Company. "

So read the companys' terse press release.

But what's the story behind the story?

Poor GSK Chairman Sir Christopher Gents' attempts to strengthen GSK's board backfired when it emerged that a leading medical expert who was due to take up a position as a £60,000-a-year non-executive director had helped to compile medical evidence that is being used in litigation against.........GSK!

Ralph Horwitz, Dean of the School of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University, Ohio, was approached to sit on the board in an effort to bolster its medical expertise.

His appointment was approved by Sir Christopher in December, but formal ratification was put on ice after it emerged that Dr Horwitz had worked on a study linking a widely used (including some GSK products) decongestant called phenylpropanolamine (PPL) with strokes.

Ah, truly a conflict of interests! Never mind, Sir Christopher, there must be another candidate out there. Insider can always be contacted at pharmagossip@hotmail.co.uk

Source: The Times

Drug ads - let's have a heated debate

Insiders' dear new friend Dr John Crippen is stirring up a real hornets nest about Big Pharmas' drug ads!

Insider thought this old Searle ad from his extensive files might help stimulate the debate further. Insider would like to point out that, as is often the case, he made his good lady wife some breakfast this morning! LOL

Pipamazine

Actos - Extra! Extra! Read all about it

MeReC Extra 20 is out. It has a rational view about Takeda's diabetes drug Actos (pioglitazone) and somewhat damns the PROactive study with faint praise:

Extra

Hat tip: Prescribing Advice for GPs

The not-so-Magnificent NovoSeven

Poor Novo Nordisk. The Danish Big Pharma company said on Wednesday more data is needed on NovoSeven, recombinant human coagulation Factor VIIa (rFVIIa), after researchers linked the anti-bleeding medicine to deaths and strokes.

A report in the Journal of the American Medical Association published on Wednesday said NovoSeven has been linked to 67 deaths since it was approved in 1999 as a hemophilia treatment.

Insiders' view: this may well affect approval for any possible future indications for the drug, such as cerebral haemorrhage.

Reuters

And the winners are.......

The 2005 Medical Weblog Awards winners can be found here:
Winners

Didn't the London Ambulance Service do well! Well done Tom and Mark.

AstraZeneca - generic Toprol-XL ok'd

Poor AZ. They have just lost a battle to protect the US patent covering its fourth-biggest drug Toprol XL, raising the prospect of the launch of generic versions in the next few months.

Europe's third-largest drugmaker said it will be appealing the summary judgement delivered by a Missouri court. But the generic drug makers it was fighting -- KV Pharmaceutical Co, Andrx Corp and Eon Labs, part of Novartis AG -- are now likely to hurry to get their cheaper versions to the market.

Sales for Toprol-XL in the U.S. last year were $1.3 billion.

Insiders' view: good! This beta blocker is an old drug that has been evergreened. It's about time a generic was available.

Interactive Investor

J&J vs Boston Scientific - Is it all getting a little bit silly?

The battle for Guidant, I mean. Insider can smell the sweat and testosterone from here guys!
Jessica and Julie

The emperors' new clothes

A blogger is just a writer with a cooler name, says AdAge!

Shock!!

http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=47467

However, according to these experts, blogs offer businesses something that has long been lacking in their communication with customers–meaningful dialogue. Devoid of corporate-speak and empty promises, business blogs can humanize communication, bringing companies and their constituencies together.

Read their blog. Then, if you want, buy the book:

Amazon

Grand Rounds 2:17

Good job GruntDoc:
http://www.gruntdoc.com/

Darwin Awards 2005 - cutting lifes' thin thread with style

Thousands of people die senselessly every year, but only a few have eliminated themselves in such beautifully silly ways that their demise earns them this not-so-coveted prize.

Seed reports on the latest crop of "winners", including the late Philip Quinn of Kent, Washington. On November 30th, 2004, for some reason, the 24-year-old Quinn placed a lava lamp on his stove. Maybe he was disappointed with its meager bubbling and hoped that a slow boil would improve the effect.

Quinn's plan literally backfired when the lava lamp exploded, sending a large shard of glass shrapnel through his heart. Makes one wonder if 70s peaceniks are concerned that their hippie-chic tchotchke has become an instrument of death and destruction.

Bummer, man!

Whistleblowing for Dummies

Matt Holt at The Health Care Blog has a great primer for potential Big Pharma and Biotech whistleblowers.

"Here’s another piece of evidence to support my argument that whistleblowing represents the most promising career path for a young person starting out in the biomedical industry.

Biotechs such as Genentech, Amgen and the other large ones are an especially fertile venue. The avaricious ambitions of senior executives and their accompanying desire to mimic the Big Pharma operations tend to alienate both the scientists and the commercial people who were originally attracted to the biotech side of the drug discovery business. These increasingly disgruntled coworkers can provide excellent leads into illegal practices that the enterprising whistleblower can use to his/her advantage."

The Genentech whistleblower worked as a "medical science liason" (MSL) exec. This appears to be a job that is also a licence to print money for potential future whistleblowers.

Read all about it here:
The Healthcare Blog

And the lion shall lie down with the lamb.....

- but the lamb wont get much sleep!" An old Woody Allen gag used by Dr Jerry Avorn in a presentation to the NLARx.

What is the National Legislative Association on Prescription Drug Prices, you ask?

They are a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded and directed by state legislators. Their mission: to assist legislators who seek to work jointly across state lines to make prescription drugs more affordable and accessible to people in the United States, especially by reducing prescription drug prices.

Check out their website:http://www.nlarx.org/

Presentations from previous meetings are available on the site: John Abrahmson's and Jerry Avorn's are both very good!

Their next meeting is in New York City on December 3rd. Insider will be there, if he can!

AstraZeneca - Symonds, CFO speaks

In an interview with Accountacy Age AZs' CFO Jon Symonds reveals how he feels about being beaten to the top job by Dave Brennan.

‘Six months on, the wheres and what fors don’t matter, the fact is David is the CEO. It’s our responsibility to back him. AstraZeneca has got to be bigger than any individual and we’ve got a great team here.’

When asked whether he would consider leaving because he didn’t manage to secure the top spot, Symonds is more vague but says that his continuing mission is to back the company that he has served so well, although his disliking of negative media attention within the pharmaceutical sector is clear.

‘No one talks about their future career choices. I want AstraZeneca to succeed, I’ve put my heart and soul into this company for eight years and I’m as passionate about it today as I’ve ever been.

‘I want to play as big a part as I can. We’re the fifth largest company in the UK in a fantastic industry that, despite some of the press, is geared towards improving the quality of human health. That is about as good a reason to get up in the morning and come to work as you’ll find.’

He says he will greatly miss outgoing CEO Tom McKillop, an executive who has often reaped praise from his peers. ‘Working with Tom has been fantastic, he’s one of the best CEO’s in Europe and we’ve been through a lot together.’

Hmmmmm!

Accountancy Age

FDA - a "thinly-veiled" move is seen through!

The FDA wants to propose a rule on prescription drug labeling that would preempt state drug product liability laws, said the National Conference of State Legislatures Friday in a press release.

The FDA is resurrecting a proposal that was dormant for about five years and seeks to add language that would nullify state product liability laws, the NCSL said.

Previously, Congress and courts refused to grant these powers to the FDA. The FDA called the NCSL with its intentions to insert the preemptive language. The NCSL said the FDA did not give state legislators a copy of the language it wants added to its final rule.

“This attempt to insert preemption language is a thinly-veiled attempt on the part of FDA to confer upon itself authority it does not have by statute and does not have by way of judicial ruling,” said NCSL President and Illinois Senator Steve Rauschenberger in a letter to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt. “This amounts to an abuse of agency process and a complete disregard for our dual system of government.”

So that's a "no" then, is it Steve?

Insiders' view: Big Pharma would like this change as it could potentially weaken future US State product liability cases.

Insurance Journal

How about Pargluva for the Prix Galien?

The Prix Galien is an internationally recognised award within the pharma industry. Launched in France in 1969, it was named after Roman Philosopher Claudius Gelenus (AD 131-201) widely regarded as the father of modern pharmacology and rewards outstanding achievement in research and development.

The UK Prix Galien was established 15 years ago to recognise the UK industry's achievements in the evolution of medicines. Its main purpose is to recognise and reward innovation. Crucially, it remains the only award ceremony that is completely industry independent, judged by an esteemed panel of some of its toughest customers, headed by Professor Sir Michael Rawlins, chairman of NICE.

Winners of the UK Prix Galien are entered into the International Prix Galien, which runs every two years and pits medical innovators from across the globe against each other.

The next UK Prix Galien will take place in September 2006 at the Houses of Parliament. Entrants must register online by 28th February, with the closing date for completed entries set for 31st March.

Insiders' view: how about Pargluva? Big Pharmas' finest hour in 2005! LOL

Pharmafocus

Happy Birthday

Sanofi Aventis - FatBoySlim to DJ at Acomplia launch party rumor

Playlist includes:
Fat bottomed girls - Queen
Big ole butt - LL Cool J
Hey fatty bum bum - Diversions
Rio - Duran Duran (slight "in" joke, here - ed)
Fat of the land - Prodigy (including the unforgetable : Smack my bitch up)
He aint heavy - he's my brother - Neil Diamond
The weight - The Band
Wish I was skinny - The Boo Radleys
Super size me - Toothpick
Fat boys and ugly girls - Elton John
You're the one for me, fatty - Morrissey
McDonalds' Girl - barenakedladies
I like big butts - Sir Mix-a-lot
Eat it - Weird Al Yankovic
Some girls are bigger than others - The Smiths

Other contributions gratefully received.

Read about Big Pharmas' hopes for fat profits from diet drugs here:
Svelt Ben Hirschler at Reuters

Ask Insider - a question answered

Er, no!

Next question please.

Johnny Cash - The Man in Black

Sadly missed. Great site. Hope the film does him justice.

http://www.johnnycash.com/

Bone wars contd - Eastell resigns Sheffield job

A senior doctor at the centre of a row over the probity of pharmaceutical research has resigned from his NHS post before the outcome of an inquiry into separate allegations.

Professor Richard Eastell has left his job as director of research at the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals Trust following claims of financial irregularities. Eastell had been suspended from his NHS work while the hospital investigated allegations that he was charging the NHS for work that should have been done privately.

In November, The Observer reported on allegations, made by a whistleblower who worked with Eastell at Sheffield University, that a drugs company had been given too much power over medical trial data. Dr Aubrey Blumsohn claimed Eastell had allowed a medical paper to be published by Procter and Gamble under researchers' names, without the researchers being allowed full access to data. The study was looking at the effects of an osteoporosis drug.

Eastell will continue as an honorary consultant at the hospital, and will be employed by Sheffield University. A hospital spokesman said because Eastell had resigned before the inquiry finished, it could not reach a verdict.

Insiders' view: "could not reach a verdict"..........that sounds like a fudge doesn't it. This mess will continue to stink until all the details are exposed.

Observer

Pfizer - The Sex Survey!

Guess what:

Men are more interested in sex than women.
Canadians are more interested in sex than Americans.
Italians ranked highest in the European category, followed by Sweden, Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, and the U. K.
Koreans ranked highest in the Asian category.
Moroccans ranked highest in the African & Middle Eastern category, followed by Israelis.

No. This is not a survey of Pfizer employees. It's a Global Study of Sexual Attitudes and Behaviors. According to Pfizer it is the first contemporaneous global survey to study behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, and satisfaction with relationships among more than 27,000 men and women aged 40 to 80 years in 29 countries.

For more info: http://www.pfizerglobalstudy.com/

Insider would have been more interested in a survey of Pfizer employees. But, what the heck, enjoy what you can while you can!    

Sign her up as a drug rep, quick!

Bruin Zone posted this gem of a USC Song Girl cheering after Texas found the end zone in the Rose Bowl. Can you see the looks she is getting from the other girls?! LOL.

She HAD to be blonde, didn't she?

Rumor is she will be signed by Lamberto Andreotti to work as a drug rep for BMS next week in a territory in Southern California!

2006 "bootleg" Hooters calendar

Available here:
http://www.boingboing.net/images/file001.jpg

Enjoy! LOL

Contact your Congressman for details

Hat tip: http://www.thosebastards.com/

And now, some "education" from Big Pharmas' Marketing Dept.

"A Congressional investigation of the money that drug companies give as supposed educational grants has found that the payments are growing rapidly and are sometimes steered by marketing executives to doctors and groups who push unapproved uses of drugs."

In 2004, 23 drug companies spent $1.47 billion on "educational grants", a 20 percent increase from 2003.

That's a LOT of education!

The U.S. Senate Finance Committee is "seeking more information" from the companies "about their use of educational grants." Senator Grassley said, "It's hard to see how you could call some of these grants 'educational.'" Companies are only allowed to market drugs for approved uses, though doctors can prescribe drugs for "off-label" uses. Off-label uses may account for up to half of all U.S. prescriptions.

The industry group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America pointed to its "comprehensive voluntary guidelines ... that are designed to help keep marketing practices ethical."

Insiders' view: Voluntary guidelines = Paper tigers! Real laws with real teeth are needed! Reform the FDA! David Graham for Commish!

That's better.

Source: http://www.prwatch.org/node/4367

SkyePharma - Gowrie-Smith on the rack

City institutions will meet the non-executive directors of SkyePharma early next week to discuss the future of Ian Gowrie-Smith, the company’s founder and chairman, after attempts to whip up an auction for the beleaguered drug maker have appeared to fail.

Sources familiar with the situation confirmed last night that discussions pencilled in for the beginning of the week will focus on a change of senior management. The looming crisis of confidence comes as the company cancelled pipeline presentations to analysts in London and New York, scheduled for January 25 and 26.

Insiders' comment: This has been reported on PharmaGossip previously here. The worst thing a director can do is whet the Citys' appetite for a deal and then let them down.

More detail here: Times online

Life explained

'And what is love without the eternal enmity between the sexes.' - Herman Hesse

Hat tip: http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/pickover/pc/manwoman.html

Area manager quotes

Pfizer - Exubera: billion dollar buyout

The Exubera story continues to fascinate Insider.

The latest twist in the tale is that Pfizer will now pay $1.3 billion (euro1.1 billion) to Sanofi-Aventis Group to obtain full rights to the inhaled insulin the companies developed jointly, along with Necktar.

The FDA are expected to rule upon the drug later this month.

Last September, an FDA expert panel voted to recommend inhaled insulin for approval but in October the agency said it wanted to extend its review of the medication by three months.

The buyout was, indeed, predicted by Insider back in October 2005!

Stick with PharmaGossip if you want the news.......even before it happens!

Biogen - Legal advice: do as I say not as I do!

Poor Biogen. Just after they were named in a whistleblower suit claiming marketing breaches, their former general counsel now has agreed to pay $3 million to settle an investigation into allegations leveled by the Securities and Exchange Commission concerning insider stock trading.

Thomas Bucknum is also barred from serving as an officer or director of a public company for five years.

According to a Thursday report on the Wall Street Journal's Web site, Bucknum does not admit or deny wrongdoing. "I believe it was prudent to end this episode now and put it behind me," he said in a prepared statement.

Bucknum exercised options on 90,000 Biogen Idec shares (Nasdaq: BIIB) last February for a $1.9 million gain, with the SEC saying he did so after learning two patients taking its multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri had developed a rare brain disease.

Ten days later, the company shelved Tysabri after a patient died, and the company's stock fell 40 percent.

Bucknum resigned last March.

Bucknum agreed to repay his stock gain and $1 million more in penalties and interest. Bucknum became general counsel of Biogen in 1999. Before joining the company in 1996, he worked for DuPont.

Tysabri was initially approved for sale in November 2004. On Tuesday, Biogen Idec told analysts the company expects word from the Food and Drug Administration in March on whether the company can resume Tysabri sales.

Insiders' view: It's a strange state of affairs where Tommy Boy can admit no wrongdoing but agree to pay a million bucks as a "penalty". Go figure.

Boston Business Journal

I quote

"If you want to live like a Republican, vote for a Democrat." - Harry S. Truman

Merck - Vioxx: defining an expert

Merck owes its victory in a recently concluded Vioxx trial in New Jersey largely to the testimony of J. Michael Gaziano, a Harvard cardiologist who expressed his doubts that Vioxx, and not stress, triggered the 2001 heart attack in Frederick "Mike" Humeston, who argued otherwise.

Michael Gaziano had opined in a previous case that he did not see a link between ephedra and heart problems, a view at odds with the Food and Drug Administration, and he said the same about phenylpropanolamine.

He also had received significant money from Merck – up to $125,000 for his work on Vioxx over the last three years, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer – as well as from other drug companies, including Wyeth and McNeil Consumer & Specialty Pharmaceuticals, makers of Tylenol.

Now here J. Michael Gaziano was saying that short-term use of Vioxx was safe, too, and that while the data on long-term use raised "concerns," they were not iron clad. His opinions, which seemed to contradict most experts, were mooted by Merck's withdrawal of the drug but are not necessarily wrong.

Indeed, at least one heart specialist says the Vioxx suits (Merck is still facing thousands) do pose tricky scientific questions.

Source: The Scientist

MinuteClinic - giving the people what they want

On a wintry weekend in 1999, Rick Kreiger took his ailing son to an urgent care center in Minneapolis to get a strep throat test. After a two-hour wait to be seen, he surmised that there had to be a quicker and more convenient option for treating common illnesses.

A year later, Krieger and partners Douglas Smith, MD, and Steve Pontius founded a busness that became MinuteClinic. The first health care centers opened in Cub Foods stores in Minneapolis-St. Paul in May 2000 and provided services for seven common medical conditions: strep throat, mono, flu, female bladder infections, ear infections, sinus infections and pregnancy testing. Patients paid cash -- about $30 a service.

The new model took off and MinuteClinic health care centers were added at several Target stores and corporate office locations in the Twin Cities.

Less than a year later, MinuteClinic opened its first health care centers in CVS/pharmacy stores in Minneapolis and Baltimore. By first quarter 2006, MinuteClinic health care centers will be located in 10 U.S. markets with aggressive expansion plans.

Since its inception, MinuteClinic has provided nearly 300,000 patient visits with surveys showing 99 percent customer satisfaction. It has helped uninsured individuals, self-insured employers, and health insurance companies substantially reduce the costs of health care resulting in millions of dollars in savings and countless hours of wasted time.

Insiders' view: One to watch.
http://www.minuteclinic.com/

Pfizer - Blessed are the peacemakers

Looking for redemption Pfizer, through its public affairs agency, Spectrum Science Communications are attempting to become known as blessed peacemakers.

Through 2005 Spectrum Science organized a series of "Ceasefire on Healthcare" town meetings ( funded by Pfizer and American University). These meetings featured such politcal heavyweights as Senator Hillary Clinton and former Congressman Newt Gingrich.

"The thrust of the campaign ... is to make incremental changes," burbles Spectrum Science's Claire Barnard.

Fat fees all round, no doubt.

Source: PR Week

Area manager quotes

When cheerleaders go bad!

Click here to see the profiles of two (possibly now ex) Carolina Panther cheerleaders.

Then click here to read all about what they got up to!

Now they are probably looking for work perhaps they should contact Spirited Sales Leaders and see if they can get jobs as drug reps. After all one of them is a nurse!

Sunny and 70 degrees in Florida today