Drug industry spending on consumer advertising dropped 3% in 2007 to $5.15 billion, from $5.31 billion in 2006, but spending on product advertising, particularly TV and magazine ads, continued to climb.

The FDA has issued Merck a not approvable letter regarding its developmental cholesterol-lowerer dubbed Cordaptive.

Getting your brand noticed early in its lifespan is a crucial component to pharmaceutical product position strategy said, Corinne Le Goff, vice president, marketing, at Sanofi-Aventis.

Medical schools and teaching hospitals should ban gifts to physicians and other faculty, staff, students and trainees, whether on-site or off-site, including food and travel, said the Association of American Medical Colleges [AAMC].

Sermo, the physician online community, formally launched its "Discuss on Sermo" initiative, by which journal publishers provide links to articles and research and can facilitate discussions on them among their readers and Sermo members.

Robert Essner will retire as chairman on June 27th, 2008. Essner was the the CEO of Wyeth from May 2001 through January 2007.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal asked his state's legislature to prohibit gifts to physicians.

Pfizer's smoking cessation treatment Chantix was the top searched prescription brand in February, generating more than 500,000 search queries, according to internet measurement firm comScore.

Shares of WebMD parent company WebMD Health Corp dipped 12% yesterday after the company revised its outlook due to a lack of healthcare advertisers spending money with the firm.

A report delivered by industry trade group PhRMA has found a record 750 potential cancer treatments in the US research pipeline, according to a statement.