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September 2010 Issue of MMM

Editor's Desk

It's not always about money

Finally, some good news--salaries are back! At least, according to the 24th annual MM&M Career & Salary Survey.

Features

Career & Salary Survey: Rain Check

Following last year's unprecedented decreases, average salaries have bounced back to 2008 levels. Is the storm finally passing? James Chase reports on the key findings ...

Retention: What's in it for Me?

Employees may be an agency's number-one asset, but priorities can change when profits are at stake. As Tanya Lewis finds, smart agencies are not scaling ...

Career Tracks

Every job is a journey, and pharma marketing is no exception. Here are eight who are chugging along to fulfilling careers, both professionally and personally

MM&M Awards 2010 Finalists: Final Cut

Back in July, an esteemed panel of 41 expert healthcare executives, spanning the fields of marketing, communications and media, came together to review and score ...

Headliner: MS&L's Mike Huckman

Mike Huckman spent 27 years in television--the last eight of them covering the pharma beat for CNBC--before joining healthcare PR powerhouse MS&L as SVP, director ...

Antidote

Antidote: Lipitor

As a fan, prescriber, and consumer of Pfizer's blockbuster cholesterol-lowering statin drug Lipitor, I've long joked that in addition to increasing exercise and improving diet, ...

In Focus

Frazzled pharma reporters chase scoops

It was lunchtime on day two of ExL's pharma public relations conference at Pfizer headquarters, and the host, Pfizer PR chief Ray Kerins, took the ...

Professional Marketing

GSK restructures bonuses for reps

Beginning in 2011, GlaxoSmithKline will reward its sales reps for the relationships they forge with doctors, instead of the amount of drugs they sell.

Co-promotion gone bad: Cypress hands Savella to Forest

California-based Cypress Bioscience ended its co-promotion agreement with Forest Laboratories on Savella (milnacipran), a fibromyalgia drug approved in January 2009.

Professional Marketing briefs

Featuring news about Eli Lilly; Challenger, Gray and Christmas; and SmithKline Beecham

Med Ed Report

CME for REMS an education sea change

At a July FDA advisory hearing on ways to increase the safety of extended-release and long-acting opioid drugs, the agency opened the door to using ...

MA pharma gift ban: down but not out

A measure to repeal Massachusetts' pharma gift ban failed to make it into a final economic stimulus bill but may yet resurface.

Industry-backed trials are positive

An analysis of studies registered on ClinicalTrials.gov showed those funded by industry were more apt to show positive outcomes but less apt to be published ...

Med Ed Report briefs

Featuring news about Genentech, Harvard Medical School, University of Minnesota, KnowledgePoint360 and the National Commission for Certification of CME Professionals

Professional Media

Thieme to distribute Manson titles

Thieme Publishers will distribute UK-based Manson Publishing titles in the Americas and India, a portfolio that includes close to 100 medical and veterinary titles.

NEJM revamps site, adds archives

The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) launched a new website in July, including an archive of past issues dating back to 1812.

Professional Media briefs

Featuring news about Elsevier, Wolters Kluwer Health and GlaxoSmithKline

Media Forum

Where is professional media headed?

With journal spend taking a dive, many agencies have jettisoned internal media buyers, outsourcing to the big network shops among others. What do you see ...

Digital Media

Facebook Share widget earns letter

A Facebook Share widget found on Novartis' Tasigna (nilotinib) website provoked a DDMAC untitled letter, the fourth DDMAC communiqué Novartis has received this year.

WEGO throws Ning users a lifeline with sponsorship

WEGO Health is sponsoring all health networks at social networking platform Ning.com, enabling a million Ning network users to go on posting free of charge ...

Digital Media briefs

Featuring news about WebMD, Spina Bifida, VitaPath Genetics and Elsevier's Skin & Allergy News Digital Network

Consumer Marketing

DDR on DTC: EpiPen

Dey Pharmaceuticals has delivered a terrific integrated DTC campaign for its EpiPen product. By using disease-state or "unbranded" advertising on television, on the web and ...

Merck launches asthma site for Spanish-speakers

Merck teamed up with the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA), and former Miss Universe Dayanara Torres, for an asthma education website targeting Spanish-speakers.

FDA: Luvox CR brochure missing info

The FDA demanded that Jazz Pharmaceuticals halt dissemination of a patient brochure for Luvox CR and run corrective messages to counter inflated benefit claims and ...

Novartis exploits J&J recall with giveaway

Seeking on rival Johnson & Johnson's woes with a giveaway of its new Triaminic OTC children's acetaminophen, Novartis said it would distribute 250,000 bottles of ...

Consumer marketers more confident: survey

The economy might be retrenching and consumers souring, but consumer marketers are feeling more confident, according to a survey by Cegedim Dendrite which found that ...

Consumer Marketing briefs

Featuring news about the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, Takeda, GlaxoSmithKline, the Amgen Foundation and Ashoka's Changemakers

Marketing Research

Vantage Point

With increasing FDA regulations on DTC advertising, in-flight campaign optimization remains a challenge for pharma marketers who must take corrective action when a campaign does ...

Does the TVG collapse signal start of a trend?

Citing decreased demand, pharmaceutical promotional support firm PDI said it planned to exit its TVG Marketing Research & Consulting business unit last month.

Research firm surveys docs by iPhone

Market-research firm ImpactRx has launched an iPhone application it says provides pharmaceutical companies insights into drug therapy promotion.

Agency Business

Shop helps nonprofit engage online

Like many Razorfish Health clients, the Alzheimer's Association Delaware Valley Chapter knew they needed a social media presence but needed some handholding to get there.

Grey Healthcare bets on animal health with acquisition

Grey Healthcare Group (ghg) is making a play for the animal health marketing space with its acquisition of Geoff Howe Marketing Communications.

Agency Business briefs

Featuring news about Ignite Health, Tonic Life Communication, Spectrum, Interpublic and Delaney Lund Knox Warren

Washington Insider

As I see it

Over 30 years ago a gregarious Congressman from Louisiana gave me and others some off-the-record advice on how to succeed on Capitol Hill.

FDA forwards Avandia 'conflict' probe to HHS

As it wrestles with the drug's safety issues, including public disagreements about them within its own ranks, FDA referred in July to the HHS Office ...

FDA should have acted sooner on tests

FDA should have acted sooner to ban unapproved DTC genetic tests, the agency's medical devices director, Jeffrey Shuren told a House hearing after listening to ...

Viewpoint

Reps should bring docs science, not tchotchkes

In response to seismic forces that are buffeting the US medical marketplace, most pharma companies are phasing in new commercial models that, among other things, ...