Recently, the FDA requested comments on direct-to-consumer (“DTC”) advertising, and its effects upon subsets of the general population, such as the elderly, children, and racial and ethnic minority communities. PAL and our sister organization, the Prescr

The Boston Business Journal reports today, Bay State ranked worst for pharma sales and marketing: A pharmaceutical trade group has rated Massachusetts the worst state in which to pursue sales and marketing for the industry, in part because of a new law r

As we've previously reported on the PAL blog, GlaxoSmithKline agreed to pay $40 million to settle a national class action lawsuit brought against it on behalf of "third party payors" (health plans, union benefit funds and others). The case alleged that G

Cold season cautions On Tuesday, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association announced it would label its combined cough and cold products so as not to be used in children under four, citing health risks from improper use and dosage, reports the Star-Tri

A major story broke today in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Boston Globeabout Pfizer's (NYSE:PFE) alleged manipulation of studies of its epilepsy drug Neurontin: See: Keith Winstein's Suit Alleges Pfizer Spun Unfavorable Drug Studies in the

Consumer Reports recently published a list of drugs that have heightened risks for older adults, due to the fact that as kidneys age, they lose some ability to process drugs. Consumer Reports compiled a "list of medications that are best avoided by thos

When is writing a memo fun? When the sender is you, the recipient is you, and its purpose is to authorize payment - to you.  We’re pretty sure Dr. Charles Nemeroff enjoyed getting that memo (from himself) authorizing $3000 to be paid (to himself) for writ

In a week where spending your taxpayer dollars on bad investments suddenly sounds like a ‘rescue plan,’ read this: the FDA spent a chunk of their not-so-spare change  (OK, so $300,000 is a lot less than $700 B) to hire a PR firm to "create and foster a la

Does “a wealth of data from independent studies,” show that direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription medications “has a positive impact on public health”? That’s the claim from Pfizer in its recent submission to the FDA. But their evidence ain’t muc