"Power Point can Suck the Life Out of You" - Thanks PharmaGossip

This is hilarious to people like me, who live and breathe MS Powerpoint. I saw so many bad talks with horrible slides given by MDs that this comedian's spin actually does a good job of pointing out common errors. Research Girl would love this, as she has fixed many of my PPTs and I think she could add several new punch lines to this routine. Enjoy.

Six Part YouTube Anti-PHARMA Series All in ONE Place - Thanks PharmaGossip

I think that this posting will piss off those who HATE re-postings, because it is SO long. However, since I have to spend hours tied to my sweat drenched computer, I might as well have some kind of satisfaction....

Here is MY kind of satisfaction. Anything that is more than 80% accurate in content AND contains vetted sources AND most importantly is ANTI-PHARMA, is word.

Here you go, six different anti-pharma youtube.com postings.

Hog Washed - Its all Pork Anyway - Thx PG

I love PG and PG. Both PHARMA GOSSIP and PHARMA GILES are simply the best for a fun, not full of text or meaty world angst whistle blowing trauma.

Since they be pimpin'... I am gonna shout of Big P-GOSSIP and Big P-GILES. Thanks for all the support and corrections and cheer!

PharmaGossip: Distaval - dont forget history

PharmaGossip: Distaval - dont forget history


Here is the review of a book that summarizes the Nazi link to Thalidomide! Please read the link above, then the book review for the back story. Thanks PharmaGossip for this link from bad medicine to Nazism. Sounds just about right to me.

Dark Remedy: The Impact of Thalidomide and Its Revival as a Vital Medicine
November 15, 2001

from Medscape General Medicine [TM]
Reviewed by: Richard J. Powell, DM, FRCP

With Dark Remedy: The Impact of Thalidomide and Its Revival as a Vital Medicine, American authors embryologist Trent Stephens and historian Rock Brynner have cleverly and meticulously crafted a chronicle of 40 years of thalidomide into a thoroughly readable and coherent story. They are to be commended on their detailed research into historical background and efforts to distil the more contemporaneous immunologic ramifications of thalidomide use for the nonspecialist reader. In fact, the book reads almost like a novel, although accuracy has been maintained throughout.

The drug, which was initially promoted as a sedative without side effects, became history's greatest medical tragedy as the development of irreversible nerve damage (neuropathy) and the reports of birth defects were ignored for the sake of monetary gain.

The story begins in Germany, chronicling the employment of ex-Nazi officers in the management of a production company and how their philosophies manifestly influenced subsequent marketing strategies. Thalidomide was "a drug in search of a disease." The authors note, "the only thing thalidomide seemed to have going for it was that researchers could not find a dose high enough to kill a lab rat."

The plot then moves to Israel in 1965, where thalidomide's beneficial effects in leprosy were discovered and subsequently confirmed in a large international World Health Organization study. These studies highlighted the need for the molecular definition of the anti-inflammatory/immunologic properties of thalidomide. It is, however, only in the last decade that some -- although not all -- of the answers have been forthcoming.

The book subsequently focuses on debates within the US Food and Drug Administration and describes the process that successfully prevented the drug from being licensed in the United States with compelling accounts from the individuals responsible for blocking approval.

Indeed, thalidomide beautifully exemplifies the issue of drug risk benefit ratios: as a sedative with a significant side effect profile, the drug was denied a licence, yet approximately 30 years later it has been given a special licence to allow its limited albeit appropriate use in life-threatening conditions when other drugs have been tried and failed. This special licence overcame the need for thalidomide to be illegally smuggled into the United States during the early and mid 1990s.

Especially noteworthy is the 12th chapter, "One Patient's Account," which graphically extols the benefit of thalidomide in an inflammatory condition and is almost worthy of the title "A twist in the tail." Woe betide the reviewer who discloses the secret disclosed therein.

This book is written by 2 worthy Americans and one must allow them a certain partisanship. However, to a British reviewer, the tributes to immunologist Gilla Kaplan, PhD, whose work on the capacity of thalidomide to inhibit tumor necrosis factor-alpha in connection with AIDS research, seemed overstated. Similarly, there is no mention of the UK policy on thalidomide that has allowed its use on a "named patient" basis since 1968; the UK guideline on the use and prescribing of thalidomide in 1994 was largely imitated by the System for Thalidomide Education and Prescribing Safety (STEPS) program in America.

Finally, not surprisingly, the authors struggle to explain the complicated immunologic processes involved in the actions of thalidomide and end up producing a rather indigestible account of the science.

Despite these reservations, I recommend this book not only to those with a specific interest in thalidomide but also as a very informative read for general audiences.

Richard J. Powell, DM, FRCP, is a Consultant and Senior Lecturer in Clinical Immunology at University Hospital, Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
Medscape General Medicine 3(4), 2001. © 2001 Medscape Portals, Inc

Tribute to NEXUS Male Staff : DickS in a Box

PharmaGossip's wonderful sense of blackish contemporary humor helps me over rough patches. This video made me laugh so much, when I really needed cheering that I went and found the video below, ie, the female version "My Hole in a Box." It is hysterical! Look down about 2 postings.

Although I believe that the probability of anyone from NEXUS seeing this posting is close to Zed, if one of you IGNORANT AUTHORITARIAN NON-THINKING MEN stumble here, please defend your actions in Comments. See little word COMMENT, click on it, and defend the way you treated this very skittish Kitty.

Its ALL About the OIL - Thanks Pharma Gossip :)

This video is courtesy of PharmaGossip Blog. This Blog was SMOKIN' this morning. I think the Alpha Dogs are ready for a RUMBLE. This is due to Rost, working up the troops with his impending anouncement today about ANOTHER Whistleblower!!! Will the Fun Never End? Its better than taking a foam bat to your couch :) Peace and Love

Pharma Giles: Johnny speaks out...

This posting is SO funny, it actually cheered ME up for a few. My favorite part is when "Johnny" says in his to his sales force:

“This needs to change. Sure, we’ve made some mistakes, but we want to become an industry that anticipates our customers needs and responds to them. We still want to carry on making buckets of money of course, but we want to be loved for it. As CEO of Phoni, I fully support any initiative that will help get the cost of healthcare down, so long as it doesn’t affect my personal salary or bonuses, of course”. (Pauses for laughter. Doesn’t get any.)"

I am STILL laughing at it!

This is SO Funny - Thanks PharmaGossip!

Breaking News: Something Happening In Haiti
This post is what I see now, whenever I am unfortunate enough to watch media coverage of anything breaking. I can't tell whether this is true, or a spoof - but then again who cares?

Peanuts Does Hey Ya by OutKast

Hat Tip to PharmaGossip who Hat Tipped Jimmy... ENJOY ... TALK AMONG YOURSELVES

PharmaGossip: Lilly - Reconcile: pets on Prozac

From PharmaGossip

Lilly - Reconcile: pets on Prozac

This is not a belated April Fools' Day story in BusinessWeek :

Eli Lilly and Co., which built its reputation on insulin and antidepressant Prozac, launched its first prescription medicine for pets on Friday.

The company will market Reconcile, a beef-flavored chewable fluoxetine tablet that helps treat dogs for separation anxiety, in the United States.

I knew this was coming. My Kitty Vet was prescribing Prozac for Kitties over 5 years ago. He got in trouble (with who, I don't know) and was not allow to prescribe it, or Interferon for Kitties any more.

I think this is where PHARMA is going... to the dogs. Us CATS are too damn smart to be bothered with these Doggie drugs. In my opinion, Pets should BE like Prozac (theoretically not literally): They should make us feel less depressed and not give us side effects that we find intolerable. My boys.. Simon and Theo.. they are the Kitty loves of my life...

I think the REAL study that is screaming to be actualized, is a trial comparing head on, the psychiatric disorders in the OWNERS of PETS who ask for DOGGIE PROZAC in contrast to matched dogs and owners who would never think of asking for DOGGIE PROZAC . Is asking for Reconcile a projection of the owner's mood state? Is it Münchhausen by Pet?? Is it a disparate attempt to call to the attentions of a doctor (albeit a Vet) the owner's inability to "bond" with their pet. Or just maybe... your pet actually thinks you are sub par.. and considers its life... well... depressing.

How much time do you spend playing with your pet?