This time last year we boldly saluted Merck as MM&M's first All-Star Company of the Year.

So how was it for you? 2007, that is.

There hasn't been much good news coming out of Pfizer in the past couple of years. Efforts to replace anticipated losses from the looming patent expirations of Lipitor and other products have taken ghastly and much-publicized turns.

To say that tackling patient compliance and persistence poses a challenge to the pharmaceutical industry is like calling Tiger Woods a competent golfer or describing Katrina as a particularly bad storm. It is a gross understatement.

The fierce competition to recruit talented healthcare marketing professionals is beginning to translate into numbers, according to the results of our annual Career Salary Survey.

Having just attended the judging for MMM Awards 2007, I was on a high. For starters, it’s one of the ultimate thrills for a trade editor to be greeted by almost 50 executives representing the cream of the industry the magazine covers, all of whom have committed an entire day to reviewing and scoring the 700-plus entries.

I always look forward to compiling the July issue because, although we cover agency news year-round, it affords us a much more detailed look at who’s doing what and allows us to chart the trends.

Pharma-bashing in the media has certainly become a lot more sophisticated in the couple of years since the Cox-2 class imploded and the papers effectively broke the news that not all prescription drugs are 100% safe for everyone to whom they are marketed.

If Pfizer CEO Jeffrey Kindler were up against Microsoft magnate Bill Gates in a ranking of the world’s most influential people, which one would finish higher?

Using anecdotal observations to shape perceptions, form opinions and draw conclusions is a dangerous game.