BrandweekNRX

Hello. Goodbye.

It is that time of the year again. BrandweekNRX will go into hiatus. Great readership, amazing revelations, several congressional inquiries based on our stories in the last two months . . . but advertising support isn't there, unfortunately. Meanwhile, you can find me on my personal blog, Question Authority, where I write about things as I discover them. Stay tuned.

"Dr. Rost is a pharma litigation consultant and pharmaceutical marketing expert. He is also the author of Killer Drug and The Whistleblower. 

Pfizer's disgraced Dr. Jarvik talks to Playboy about manufacturing a dildo and his sex life.

In an amazing, sizzling interview, Dr. Jarvik spoke to Playboy a few years back about his sex life, a dildo he manufactured for a girl friend, and much more.

Oh boy. Here's a SFW exerpt:

"Before going to bed that night, he worried about how he would transport the proto-dildo without breaking it. I offered him Styrofoam peanuts, but he shook his head, deep in creative thought. He went upstairs, muttering to himself. A few minutes later, he came rushing back down, carrying one of his white Reeboks gym shoes.

"Look!" he said excitedly. "It fits!" He tipped the shoe so that we could see. The dildo was nestled neatly inside."

Pfizer probably did not check this interview before paying Dr. Jarvik $1.3 million to be the company's spokesperson in their biggest DTC campaign, ever.

Pfizer, after pulling the Lipitor advertising with Dr. Jarvik (who is the inventor of the Jarvik artificial heart), this week stated that the “way in which we presented Dr. Jarvik in these ads has, unfortunately, led to misimpressions and distractions.”

Pharmagossip, amazing work finding the full article!

"Dr. Rost is a pharma litigation consultant and pharmaceutical marketing expert. He is also the author of Killer Drug and The Whistleblower. 

Sex, drugs, doctors, and . . . pharma sales reps.

The new pharma soap opera on the web, for those of you considering a career in drug sales:

Part 1: http://revver.com/video/655108
Part 2: http://revver.com/watch/682048
Part 3: http://revver.com/watch/694069
Part 4: http://revver.com/watch/694073

Thanks Pharmagossip.

"Dr. Rost is a pharma litigation consultant and pharmaceutical marketing expert. He is also the author of Killer Drug and The Whistleblower.

Dr. Jarvik: I can row! I can row!

The Pfizer Lipitor ad scandal with Dr. Jarvik is getting more and more fun. After Pfizer pulled the commercials, due to pressure from the congressional investigation, Jarvik spoke up:

I can row, I can row! he said.

He told Bloomberg news that he spent time rowing during summer vacations in high school and trained to row for the commercial shoot, but "they wouldn't let me."

Supposedly if he fell in the water he could have drowned, due to hypothermia, so for insurance reasons they had to use a more expendable individual.

He also said:

I can run, I can run!

Jarvik told the press that "I am an athletically fit man who takes care of my own health through diet and exercise, including frequent five mile runs.''

"It never occurred to me that anyone would consider this dishonest,'' Jarvik said.

"Dr. Rost is a pharma litigation consultant and pharmaceutical marketing expert. He is also the author of Killer Drug and The Whistleblower. 

Pfizer dumps Jarvik after numerous lies exposed.

So Congress started investigating the fact the Jarvik hadn't really ever prescribed Lipitor, or any other drug, in spite of getting over a million bucks to star in Pfizer's commercials.

Nor had he really invented that first artifical heart (note misleading title of his biography to the left), and the ads had to be changed to point out he invented the "Jarvik artificial heart" after his former colleagues complained.

Nor was Jarvik athletic enough or had the right arm coordination to enable him to row; the film crew had to use a body double.

That was enough to make Pfizer pull the commercials today and for BrandweekNRX to admit that we were wrong when we wrote "U.S. Congress: Don't mess with Dr. Jarvik!"

We admit, we were so, so wrong in defending Pfizer, since we now know that Pfizer misrepresented Jarvik's role as the inventor of the artificial heart, since Pfizer misrepresented Jarvik's role as an athletic rower, and since Pfizer misrepresented Jarvik's ability to prescribe Lipitor, and we also now know that Pfizer paid Jarvik over a million bucks to allow them to do all these misrepresentations.

You'd think when we for once write something postitive about Pfizer, they wouldn't immediately disprove us by demonstrating how crooked they really are, but they did.

"Dr. Rost is a pharma litigation consultant and pharmaceutical marketing expert. He is also the author of Killer Drug and The Whistleblower.

EdrugSearch.com Community

eDrugSearch.com, the search engine for Americans seeking medications from prescreened international pharmacies, has expanded its mission by unveiling the eDrugSearch.com Community, a new social network for prescription drug consumers.

“U.S. consumers who want access to prescription drugs at fair, affordable prices have long had the odds stacked against them,” said Cary Byrd, president and founder of eDrugSearch.com. “We started eDrugSearch.com to level the playing field, giving consumers a safe way to find low-cost prescription drugs online from Canadian and other non-U.S. pharmacies.

“Now, by creating the eDrugSearch.com Community, we are moving beyond specialized search to enable our members to share information about their experiences, both with online prescriptions and online pharmacies. Our Health 2.0 community will empower members to make better decisions for themselves and for their families.”

Dr. Rost is a pharma litigation consultant and pharmaceutical marketing expert. He is also the author of Killer Drug and The Whistleblower. 

44% of all cigarettes smoked by people with mental illness.

A whopping 44% of all cigarettes in the US are smoked by people with a diagnosed mental illness. That number comes from "Smoking and Mental Illness" by Karen Lasser, MD et al; JAMA Vol. 284 No. 20.

And the number is probably even higher today. More and more people quit smoking, since it is no longer socially acceptable. Currently only 20% of US adults smoke, down from about 50% in the 50s and 60s.

People who have mental illnesses smoke at a rate of 50 to 80 percent, compared with less than 20 percent of the general population. These high-risk people also smoke many more cigarettes a day than a regular smoker -- often three packs. Furthermore, smokers with mental illness are much more likely to smoke their cigarettes right down to the filters.

Dr. Rost is a pharma litigation consultant and pharmaceutical marketing expert. He is also the author of Killer Drug and The Whistleblower.

Picture of a future president?

The Obama campaign claim this image of Barack Obama was "leaked" by Sentor Clinton.

More over at the Drudge Report.

If he didn't want the picture, why did he put on the dress?

BrandweekNRX wonders.

And, just maybe Hillary forgot that she wore this?

Restrooms and advertising. We love both.

And we love Crooked Brains.

Dr. Rost is a pharma litigation consultant and pharmaceutical marketing expert. He is also the author of Killer Drug and The Whistleblower. 

Nader will run again - and proposes real universal healthcare.

Yes it is true--he’s running for president again: Ralph Nader.

He announced his 2008 bid for the White House on “Meet the Press” and said: “All, all the candidates — McCain, Obama and Clinton — are against single-payer health insurance, full Medicare for all. I’m for it, as well as millions of Americans and 59% of physicians in a forthcoming poll this April.”

Nader has said if he had it his way, health care in the U.S. would “look like full Medicare for everybody, whereby the government is the payer.”

More.

Dr. Rost is a pharma litigation consultant and pharmaceutical marketing expert. He is also the author of Killer Drug and The Whistleblower.