Drug Store Directory Blog
Monday, April 30, 2007
  Solution to Stop Smoking: Get to the Root Cause
 
Simple-7 Solution to Stop Smoking -- Free Help with the Root Cause

Truth for Healthy Living announces giving free on-line its "Simple-7" stop-smoking program. The website's sponsor hopes this will begin making up for the "nearly total and entirely tragic absence" of clinical specialists who provide appropriate help with dependence on nicotine: America's most often disabling and deadly addicting drug.

Winston-Salem, NC (PRWEB) April 30, 2007 -- Today, Truth for Healthy Living and its website's sponsor, Richard Terry Lovelace, are giving free access to the "Simple-7" stop-smoking program. It takes the unique and addiction-appropriate approach of reducing health risk denial to release motivation by countering a recently uncovered cluster of "nicotine notions." Visit truthforhealthyliving.org and gain unrestricted access by clicking on the link to "articles."

Appropriate Assistance Needed
Free access is being given as a public health service and to encourage "appropriate help" for cigarette smokers. "Appropriate help deals with the root cause," says Dr. Lovelace. "To date, America's non smokers have provided essentially nothing that helps with the all-important cause of chronic cigarette smoking. Little wonder the relapse rate of trying-to-quit smokers is nearly 100-percent. And many of the relative few who do quit suffer from 'addiction transfer' . . . tragically substitute one health-threatening and costly dependence for another."

Root Cause of the Root Cause
Convinced that the lives and financial futures of a great many of our children are at stake, Lovelace is outspoken. "If you Web-search for the root cause of chronic smoking," this licensed clinical social worker asserts, "instead of what you need to know to help protect children you'll be told that the root cause of several major illnesses is cigarette smoking. But the truth is that no one smokes enough cigarettes to do serious injury unless he or she is dependent on the drug, nicotine. Substance addiction is the root cause of chronic smoking and those major illnesses."

"In addition to and much more than physical need and withdrawal, a group of nine nicotine notions is the pivotal part of nicotine addiction," believes Dr. Lovelace. "Nicotine notions do worse than block the sufficiently powerful will, motivation, of smokers to stop ingesting nicotine and for good. Those hidden 'butt-attitudes' take away from non smokers the degree of compassion required to be truly helpful."

Non Smokers in More Deadly Denial Than Smokers
The untrue and unknown cluster of ideas Lovelace discovered and named "nicotine notions" also hurts non smokers. He explains, "When I tell obviously bright and generally knowledgeable people that nicotine addiction is by far the most serious; it causes four times more U.S. preventable deaths than alcohol and illicit drugs combined, non smokers deny that it's serious enough. They begin to tell me, for example, the false notion called 'Smoking only hurts me (smokers).' That denial of reality does more harm because it contributes to there being practically nil addiction-appropriate help for current smokers and our children who will become addicted to nicotine."

Non smokers can take a test to see if they might have this "deadly denial." Go to Truth for Healthy Living's website,
truthforhealthyliving.org, and click on the link to "tests." Like the articles, all of the tests are free.

###

Press Contact: RICHARD T. LOVELACE
Company Name: Truth for Healthy Living
Phone: 336-722-7300
Website:

 
  Health Marketplace Comparison Online
 
AllNutri.com - New Online Comparison Health Marketplace

AllNutri.com is an upcoming dedicated online health marketplace enabling consumers to make better buying decisions on basis of prices, store services and other buying information of vast range of health products.

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) April 30, 2007 -- Allnutri.com - a new comparison shopping marketplace for health products was launched in final beta version on April 27. Allnutri.com primarily focused on dietary supplement's category of health products including vitamins, supplements, minerals and herbal products. The major focus of this marketplace is to provide a convenient online shopping experience to online health shoppers by providing the facility of better buying decision on the basis of comparison among product variations, brand choices, price and store services comparison.

There are hundreds of online health storefronts can be found over the internet with different sort of pricing and services on the same brands. Online buyers always need the guide to buy the right product from the right merchant at the best price. Allnutri.com solve this problem of internet buyers by carrying a largest collection of over 30000 health supplements of over 1000 national brands from trusted online merchants. The web site is easy to use and navigate, giving shoppers the ability to search, compare and buy supplements with detailed product information, including dosage, health category, brand, Internet retailer and latest offering promotions from merchants.

Allnutri.com also benefiting to online shoppers with additional interactive tools like health calculators (Body Fat Estimator, Ideal Weight, BMR and BMI Calculator). Very soon we are adding the interactive "Health Forum" where online buyers will participate directly about their experience of relevant products and merchants. Further, "Customer Advisory Board" is ready to launch that will help online customers very effectively about the selection of buying supplements and health products.

About the Team of Allnutri.com
The industry specialists at AllNutri.com have a very rich and authenticated experience of over 6 years in Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and brand promotion. Our team members have worked for various health related online stores and have a vast experience in online promotions of herbal brands. The project of Allnutri.com is developed by WebizMedia.com - an online advertising and marketing firm.

Visit: Allnutri.com

#   ##

Press Contact: Abrar Pash
Company Name: Allnutri.com
Phone: 206-350-5519
Website:
http://allnutri.com

 
Sunday, April 29, 2007
  Something About Splenda?

Is there something we should know about Splenda?

Johnson & Johnson owns:

splendasucks.net, .org, .biz, .info
splendakills.net, .org, biz .info
splendatruth.com , .net, .org, .biz, .info
splendapoison.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info
thedangersofsplenda.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info
thefactsaboutsplenda.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info
thesplendadangers.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info
thesplendafacts.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info
victimsofsplenda.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info
thetruthaboutsplenda.net, .org, .biz, .info
thesplendatruth.com, .net, .org, ,biz, .info
splendatoxicity.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info
splendatoxicitycenter.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info
splendavictims.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info
splendahealth.com
splendaandyourhealth.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info
splendaandyourfamily.com, .net, .org, .info, .biz
splendamyths.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info
splendaalert.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info
splendafacts.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info
splendasafety.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info
truthaboutsplenda.info, .biz
splendasideeffects.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info
aboutsplenda.com
allaboutsplenda.net
banonsplenda.com
bittertruthaboutsplenda.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info
factsaboutsplenda.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info
mythsaboutsplenda.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info
officialsplendasite.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info
splendadangers.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info
splendadiabetes.com
splendaisnotsafe.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info
splendaisnotsosweet.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info
splendasucralose.com
thetruthaboutsplendasafety.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info

Tate & Lyle owns:

sucralosepoison, com, .net, .info, .org, .biz, .us
sucralosekills.com, net, .info, .org, .biz, .us
sucralosesucks.com, .net, .info,.org, .biz, .us
sucraloseandyourhealth.com , .net, .org, .biz, .info, .us
sucralosesafety.com , .net, .org, .biz, .info, .us
sucralosefacts.com, .net, .org, biz, .info, .us
sucralosetruth.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info, .us
truthaboutsucralose.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info, .us
chlorosucralose.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info, .us
sucraloseandyourhealth.com, .net, .org, .biz, .info, .us

Links:

http://www.sustainableisgood.com/blog/2007/03/image_is_everyt.html
http://www.splenda.com/
http://www.tateandlyle.com/
http://www.jnj.com/
http://www.splendaexposed.com/

There are quite a few good splenda domains available including a lot that were previously registered at one point and then dropped. The above list doesn't include an domains with hyphens, so I wouldn't be surprised to find anything you want. In fact, only found four .com domains with "splenda-" registered. I hate Splenda. Learn what it really is and you may not like it either. I wish I had a feeling for the possibility that it will turn out to have bad health effects in the future. It's amazing to me how many chemicals we produce and then eat with our food, to say nothing of all the stuff that then makes it's way into the environment...

 
  Mesothelioma Patients Get Higher Survival Rate With Two Cancer Drugs

Combination drug treatment helps beat mesothelioma

Medical Studies/Trials

Monday, 12-Feb-2007 - People with mesothelioma - a form of cancer associated with asbestos exposure - have a higher survival rate when treated with a combination of two cancer drugs, a large multicenter study finds.

Mesothelioma, a rare but aggressive form of cancer that occurs in the lining of the lungs, heart and abdomen, is associated with exposure to asbestos. There is no known cure.

In the study, patients receiving pemetrexed and cisplatin - along with the vitamin supplements folic acid and B12 - survived nearly three months longer than patients getting cisplatin alone.

Researchers led by John Green, M.D., at the Clatterbridge Center for Oncology in England, reviewed a study of 448 patients with advanced mesothelioma who were treated with either the single drug or the combination.

"Pemetrexed used in combination with cisplatin significantly increases the length of survival, when compared with cisplatin alone," the researchers say. "Further research is needed into the optimum treatment regimen for pleural mesothelioma."

The review appears in the current issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research. Systematic reviews draw evidence-based conclusions about medical practice after considering both the content and quality of existing medical trials on a topic.

The researchers examined data from a clinical trial of 20 treatment centers in Europe, the Americas, Australia and Asia. Eighty-one percent of the patients were men, with an average age of 61. Patients who received the combination treatment survived an average 2.8 months longer.

Patients receiving both medications also reported improved quality of life in terms of fatigue, loss of appetite, pain and cough.

During the early stages of the trial, patients receiving pemetrexed had serious symptoms of toxicity, including drug-related death. Other side effects included blood cell abnormalities, nausea and diarrhea, which decreased in both incidence and severity after the vitamins were added to the treatment. People who work trades such as shipbuilding, railway engineering, construction work and asbestos manufacture have higher rates of mesothelioma than the general public. The cancer may take 10 to 60 years to develop, and the risk does not diminish after exposure to asbestos has stopped. Family members of people exposed to asbestos at work also have an increased risk of developing mesothelioma from asbestos fibers carried home on the clothes of the people they live with.

Daniel Baram, M.D., a pulmonologist at the Lung Cancer Evaluation Center at the State University of New York, said, "Most cases [of mesothelioma] are still from pre-OSHA workplace improvements. I suspect that modern asbestos abatement precautions will avoid most, if not all, future cases. The latency is over 30 years, so we are still diagnosing cases with exposure during World War II and the '40s and '50s."

Mesothelioma is difficult to diagnose, Green said, because "there is a lag of many years between exposure and asbestosis, which is a nonmalignant condition, and a greater lag before the development of overt malignancy."

"There is no way of diagnosing the premalignant phase during the latent period of 15 to 20 years," Green added. "Many of these patients smoke and are in economically disadvantaged communities. Many individuals have moved away from heavy industries and may not admit or know they were exposed to asbestos as young men, with similar issues for their partners."

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 10 percent to 15 percent of schools and other public buildings in the United States contain asbestos insulation.

Although safety measures for working with asbestos have been in place since the 1970s, mesothelioma is projected to account for 65,000 deaths between 2001 and 2050 worldwide, peaking between 2012 and 2015, according to background information in the review.

It is a personal matter as to whether the survival increase for patients receiving the two drugs is worthwhile, Baram said. "It depends in large part on the patient. A 2.8-month mean survival increase means that some patients may get even more than that, though some people will get less. Many, if not most, patients when faced with a disease with a very bad prognosis are often willing to undergo aggressive therapy, although the toxicity is serious and potentially life-threatening."

http://www.hbns.org

 
  Directory of Safe and Licensed Online Pharmacies
 
eDrugSearch.com Accepts PharmacyRxWorld.com Into the eDrugSearch.com Directory of Safe and Licensed Online Pharmacies

In accepting PharmacyRxWorld.com into its prescreened online pharmacy directory, eDrugSearch.com has added the pharmacy's inventory of prescription drugs to the eDrugSearch.com database of 30,000 prescription drug listings.

San Antonio, TX (PRWeb) April 29, 2007 -- eDrugSearch.com, a free search engine and online community for Americans interested in purchasing safe, low-cost prescription drugs from prescreened Canadian pharmacies and other prescreened international pharmacies, announced that is has accepted PharmacyRxWorld.com into its pharmacy directory. In accepting PharmacyRxWorld.com into its directory, eDrugSearch.com has added the pharmacy's inventory of prescription medications into the eDrugSearch.com database.

"Because PharmacyRxWorld.com is properly licensed and meets eDrugSearch.com's standards of quality and professionalism in online pharmacies, we have accepted its inventory of prescription medications into the eDrugSearch.com database," said Cary Byrd, president of eDrugSearch.com.

With more than 30,000 drug listings, eDrugSearch.com brings together licensed and accredited pharmacies from around the world in one comprehensive, easy-to-use database. The pharmacy page for PharmacyRxWorld.com is located at: http://www.edrugsearch.com/pharmacies/pharmacyrxworld.html .

While many Americans are interested in Canadian pharmacies or other international pharmacies as a means of saving money on their prescriptions, they are often concerned about whether they can trust the quality and safety of the prescription medications they find online. eDrugSearch.com addresses these concerns by only accepting online pharmacies in the eDrugSearch.com database that pass a rigorous prescreening process -- including proof of home-country government licensing and third-party accreditations.

eDrugSearch.com expects to increase online prescription drug listings in the eDrugSearch.com database to 100,000 later this year -- making it easily the most comprehensive resource of its kind.

Additionally, eDrugSearch.com offers up-to-the-minute price search, extensive information on drugs and medical conditions and other features that make it the most advanced destination for online pharmacy consumers. Consumers can register for a free membership with eDrugSearch.com at the following url:
http://www.edrugsearch.com/members/register-member.php .

Popular medications available through the eDrugSearch.com database include:

- Accupril
- Actos
- Ambien
- Avandia
- Buspar
- Cephalexin
- Evista
- Lamisil
- Lotensin
- Monopril
- Naproxen
- Prevacid
- Prilosec
- Prozac
- Remeron
- Risperdal
- Wellbutrin SR

.. along with thousands of other listings.

About eDrugSearch.com

Based in San Antonio, eDrugSearch.com is the Internet destination for those seeking the cost benefits, enhanced privacy and convenience of ordering prescription drugs online from licensed international pharmacies, primarily in Canada. eDrugSearch.com's advanced search features allow members to identify pharmacies with specific licensing requirements and third-party accreditations. eDrugSearch.com is an impassioned advocate for consumers interested in lower drug prices. Visit the company's Web site at www.eDrugSearch.com or the eDrugSearch Blog at www.edrugsearch.com/edsblog .

##   #

Press Contact: Cary Byrd
Company Name: eDrugSearch.com
Phone: 972-235-3439
Website:
http://www.edrugsearch.com

 
Thursday, April 26, 2007
  There Aren't A Lot Of Drugs For Treating Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma and Molecular Pathways

"Slow but definite progress" furthers understanding of mesothelioma: Molecular signaling pathways provide clues to targeted therapies by Jeni Baker

April 26, 2007 - Mesothelioma Research - If you're reading this article, you probably already know something about malignant mesothelioma, a particularly insidious form of cancer. What you may not know is that the scientific community is making important strides toward understanding how the disease works on a molecular level - and ultimately, toward developing therapies that treat it.

A recently published review* looks at some of the molecular signaling pathways currently being investigated.

The challenge of developing disease-specific treatments

The goal is to develop more - and more effective - treatments, says co-author Dan J. Raz, MD, of the University of California, San Francisco's Division of Thoracic Surgery.

"The options for mesothelioma patients have primarily been surgery, conventional chemotherapy, and radiation therapy," Raz says. "But even when a combination of treatments is used, the outcomes aren't great."

While several drugs have been approved for treating mesothelioma, there aren't a lot - largely because researchers simply haven't been able to conduct many clinical drug trials.

This is in part because, with some 5,000 Americans diagnosed with the disease annually, mesothelioma is fairly uncommon compared with other cancers. This factor, combined with mesothelioma's typically swift progression, has made it difficult to enroll enough people in drug studies.

Another obstacle has been the large spectrum of disease. "When patients present with mesothelioma, we often don't know how long they've had it, which can make it difficult to differentiate people with different levels of disease, and to know what the best treatment options might be," Raz says.

So instead of waiting for drugs to be approved for other cancers to conduct clinical trials for their use in mesothelioma - which is how it currently works - researchers are striving to develop drugs specifically for the disease.

Which brings us back to the study of its molecular signaling pathways.

Pathways to understanding

Clinical trials of several angiogenesis drugs (those that target the blood vessels that fuel tumor growth) known to be effective for other diseases suggest that two signaling pathways examined in the article - vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) - can be disrupted by these drugs.

The review also looked at the Wnt pathway, which - because it is believed to play an important role in activating mesothelioma stem cells - also shows promise as a treatment target. By learning how to target problems in this initiating pathway, scientists may discover ways to essentially nip mesothelioma in the bud, Raz says. Several Wnt antibodies will soon enter clinical trials.

Other signaling pathways currently being studied include P53 and pRB, as well as the BCL-2 family. Also significant to the molecular makeup of mesothelioma, these pathways hold valuable clues for developing effective disease-specific therapies.

In the meantime, a number of trials for drugs developed for other cancers are underway, says Raz, and many new angiogenesis therapies are in the pipeline.

Another promising avenue - for countless medical conditions, not just cancer - is genomic medicine, of which knowledge is growing every day.

"By learning about the genetic patterns of individuals, we'll eventually be able to know how someone's genes interact with the biology of tumors, which signaling pathways play which roles in different people, and how patients will respond to different therapies," Raz says. "Genetic medicine and drug development go hand in hand, and most people in the scientific community agree that this is the future of medical treatment."

Raz encourages patients diagnosed with mesothelioma to look into clinical trials, and to seek treatment from physicians with specialized training and experience, at centers with recognized mesothelioma programs.

A growing number of centers fit the bill - UCSF, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, to name a few - which translates into more treatment options for patients.

"This is a very exciting time for advances in mesothelioma, and slow but definite progress is being made," Raz says. "The scientific community is starting to understand a lot more about the biology of this terrible disease, which means that more targeted therapies are being introduced that could potentially help people."


* Lee AY, Raz DJ, He B, Jablons DM, Update on the Molecular Biology of Malignant Mesothelioma. Cancer, 2007 Mar 8:109(8):1454-1461


Resources:
Mesothelioma Lung Cancer
Mesothelioma Search Engine

 
Thursday, April 19, 2007
  Vaccines Moving Beyond Cancer and HIV
 
Therapeutic Vaccines Moving Beyond Cancer and HIV

New report by Applied Data Research analyzes technology and commercial factors for emerging therapeutic vaccines.

Nashua, NH (PRWEB) April 19, 2007 -- A new report by Applied Data Research analyzes technology and commercial factors for emerging therapeutic vaccines.

Distinct from prophylactic vaccines, therapeutic vaccines are designed to be administered to patients who have already acquired an illness that is capable of avoiding the immune response. By introducing disease-specific stimulatory components to the immune system in a highly structured way, therapeutic vaccines aim to selectively activate the immune system against the disease and improve the patient's prognosis. For many illnesses such as hepatitis, tuberculosis and malaria that are refractory to conventional treatment regimens, vaccines that can engineer a specific and aggressive response present a highly attractive approach.

The science and technology of therapeutic vaccines are still evolving, with key elements such as disease-specific immunogenicity factors, antigen source, the role of co-stimulators and adjuvants, and vaccine delivery still under investigation for many target conditions. The highly individualized nature of the immune response makes patient variability a key focal point of vaccine design. While autologous vaccines have the advantage of being specific for each patient's disease, they are expensive and labor intensive to create. The idea behind allogeneic vaccines is that they would work for every patient with the same disease.

These findings are contained in a new and comprehensive report -- Therapeutic Vaccines - Beyond Cancer and HIV. The report has been carefully researched and written to provide timely and insightful analysis of key factors and developments shaping the therapeutic vaccine marketplace. Numerous charts, tables and graphs complement the text, with evaluations and assessments of current and probable future market developments, technology issues and business factors.

More information is available at www.applieddata.org .

About Applied Data
Applied Data Research is a healthcare therapeutics consulting firm focused on medical market strategies, product commercialization, venture development, and market research. We assist medical market participants in achieving their business objectives through the creation of detailed business development strategies, product commercialization programs, and comprehensive market and technology research and analysis.

Contact:
Greg Stone
Voice: 603-595-6225
Fax: 603-804-0466
www.applieddata.org           

Source: Applied Data Research


Press Contact: Greg Stone
Company Name: Applied Data Research
Email:
Phone: 603-595-6225
Website:
www.applieddata.org

 
Friday, April 13, 2007
  Pharma Greed Reality; Zyprexa Internal Marketing Documents Unstoppable
 
 
Med Ad News



Welcome to the inaugural Pharma Blogs e-newsletter. If you'd like to receive this e-newsletter next week, click here for a free subscription.  With the proliferation of pharmaceutical industry blogs concentrating on breaking news, the purpose of this newsletter is to take a longer look at some of the issues that have popped up in the past week. This week, I'm looking at how the pharmaceutical industry is struggling with Internet communication.

Crass comments or just plain honesty?
Take, for instance, the firing of Michael Zubillaga, a former regional sales director for AstraZeneca. As has been reported in even the mainstream media, Mr. Zubillaga was fired last Friday for comments made in an internal oncology newsletter published for AstraZeneca's mid-Atlantic region employees. In one of his comments, he exhorted sales representatives to make their calls because every office they visit represents a "big bucket of money," and in every visit, they should just "reach [their] hand into the bucket and grab a handful." When the print newsletter was anonymously sent to former Pfizer executive and now industry blogger Dr. Peter Rost, he posted it, and it was spread around the pharma blog universe in an eyeblink.

AstraZeneca's excuse for firing Mr. Zubillaga was that his comments violated the company's compliance program for sales and marketing practices. The cynical sales representatives that haunt Café Pharma, however, say Mr. Zubillaga was just being honest, if crass, in his comments.

John Mack of the Pharma Marketing blog views the flak over Mr. Zubillaga's comments as a sign that the pharmaceutical industry will not be sponsoring any employee-written blogs any time soon. He believes, however, that such blogs can actually benefit pharma companies and even offers a primer on how they develop them.

Speed of the courts outstripped by the Internet
Here's a second example of how the Internet's immediacy can create a furor. Internal documents about the marketing of the schizophrenia drug Zyprexa were leaked in December. The documents, released because of a legal loophole, were spread far and wide over the Internet and obtained by the New York Times. If you want to download them all for yourself, go here.

When
Eli Lilly and Co. tried to include five Websites in a permanent injunction against further distribution of the documents, Senior U.S. District Judge Jack B. Weinstein refused. Judge Weinstein cited the impossibility of monitoring millions of Internet sites and said making such a judgment against free speech would be beyond the court's powers. For more details about how the documents were released and what lessons Lilly and other companies can gain from the leaks, I refer readers to the upcoming May issue of Med Ad News.

One of the main problems confronting the industry is its abysmal image among the general public. The leaking of the Zyprexa documents and Mr. Zubillaga's comments are not helping matters. Lilly has admitted that the documents put the company in a bad light, but claim they are not truly representative of the millions of documents the company has already released in previous Zyprexa litigation. AstraZeneca has disavowed Mr. Zubillaga's comments, saying they are not truly representative of the company.


Negative but real
And then there's Café Pharma, which is read with simultaneous fascination and disdain by many folks in the industry. The overall view of the messages boards is that there are some good bits of information, but the reader has to trawl through a lot of scum to get to them. Profanity abounds, and this video, one of a series about the adventures of a fictitious pharmaceutical sales representative, humorously outlines the general Café Pharma way of commenting on subjects, their bosses, and the system in general.

Scurrilous comments from underlings about those in charge are nothing new. The avid student of medieval history is familiar with Procopius of Caesarea's "The Secret History." In his public life, Procopius was a Byzantine court official in the 6th century A.D. who wrote public accounts of events that were flattering to the emperor and empress, Justinian and Theodora. In private, however, he was writing a history that did a
real hatchet job on the rulers, with pornographic details that outdo anything said by the Café Pharma pottymouths. There's been a lot of debate about whether "The Secret History" was really written by Procopius; most historians generally agree it was. Then there is the debate about whether what he wrote was true or exaggeration.

View the whole picture
In the end, when forming a view of a time or place, a serious historian has to sit down with all of the sources, sift through them, and look for the points of intersection. Just because it's smutty and vicious doesn't make it a bad primary source. This is where the pharmaceutical industry has a problem: anything not particularly flattering is denied, covered in a mask of shiny spin. Yet the sludge of Café Pharma persists, and the lesson to be learned is that the more the sludge — and the behaviors that cause the sludge to appear — are denied and suppressed, rather than addressed or acknowledged, the more the discontent grows. Journalists twig on to this because, at their hearts, they are historians — many academics call journalism "history in a hurry." The Internet is not just history in a hurry, it's history at lightspeed. The pharmaceutical industry is unable to tell its story because it won't acknowledge the bad bits. Anything that remotely can rescue the industry's reputation gets buried under the old "trade secrets" heading, causing details to come out very slowly, if at all. So the everyday historians — journalists and bloggers alike — longing for good primary sources, focus on the sludge because it breathes an authenticity the carefully crafted press releases and press statements completely fail to do.

Procopius managed to keep his secret writings out of the public eye during his lifetime, and he had a good motive. Justinian and Theodora would have made his life very painful and very short. Today, the old boy would have blogged it all, anonymously perhaps. Today, a thousand anonymous Procopiuses have hijacked the industry's reputation at lightspeed. Pharmaceutical executives don't have the option of ordering these enemies to be executed, so the sludge bubbles on. If the industry can't counter the sludge in a fast, meaningful way, the industry's good reputation will continue to be tarnished.


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