Weary of FDA foot-dragging on digital and social media guidance for pharmas, a group of 60-some industry digerati have put together guidelines of their own.

Vaccinating boys between the ages of 11 and 12 against human papillomavirus, or HPV, could become a new part of pre-adolescence if a new recommendation by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices takes hold with parents and physicians.

Cowed by a fierce and lighting-quick backlash fueled by angry Tweets and Facebook posts, The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation is backpedaling, but is it too late to reverse the reputation damage?

Allergan removed records from its website that had detailed payments made to doctors from the middle of 2010 through first-half 2011.

Jobson Medical Information Holdings filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in New York Thursday, the company said, part of an effort to amend and extend its credit and strengthen its balance sheet.

Merck said Thursday its ownership of the global marketplace for DPP-IV diabetes drugs helped it close out the quarter with $12.3 billion in sales, and $48 billion in sales for the year. The two drugs behind the boost were Januvia, which saw a 42% bump in fourth quarter sales, and Janumet, which saw sales jump 34% for the quarter.

AstraZeneca confirmed rumors of another round of deep cuts, announcing that it will eliminate 7,300 positions throughout the company.

The Healthcare Businesswomen's Association named Ernst & Young global pharma lead Carolyn Buck Luce, calling her "a dedicated leader promoting women's advancement in healthcare."

Procter & Gamble is looking to lower its promotion costs by leaning more on digital media, Chairman and CEO Bob McDonald told analysts in an earnings call.

J&J is pushing back hard against a Wall Street Journal article suggesting that a pair of retirements and a promotion are part of a corporate shakeup of its recall-plagued McNeil Consumer Healthcare division.

Genentech is sponsoring a flu education campaign the features hereditary etiquette expert Anna Post offering advice to the flu-stricken on keeping the bug to themselves.

With hours to go in 2011, the FDA issued a sneaky draft guidance that many view as the first installment on its long-promised and oft-delayed advice on the use of Internet communications and social media for prescription drug promotion.

Mobile campaigns are getting increasingly targeted through layering of identifiers like location, age and gender. An effort for a new thermometer serves ads only to expecting moms and those with children under five within two miles of a store selling the device and only when influenza is running rampant where they live.

Novo Nordisk is courting controversy with a Victoza-branded type 2 diabetes education campaign featuring Southern-fried celebrity chef Paula Deen and her sons.

An online protest, which had more than 2,500 supporters as of Wednesday morning, has pulled the scientific publishing industry into a fight between the publishers and the published.

An FDA study looking at the power of background visuals to distract viewers from the often-ominous risk info read in the "major statement" section of TV drug ads found no evidence that consumer understanding of risk info is affected by the "emotional (affective) tone of images.

Generic drug sales will peak this year, says a Goldman Sachs report, as the sector approaches its own cliff.

The FDA's go-ahead for Bydureon gives maker Amylin a much-needed win in the GLP-1 market.

An industry reputation study found out that protecting Big Pharma's reputation requires more than a single good deed.

Illinois pharmaceutical company Abbott Laboratories notified 700 employees Wednesday that they will be out of work.