Category: Pharmaceuticals

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What am I, a farmer?

Last night, I was writing to a buddy about how tired I was from my autumn biz-travel schedule. I think I was attempting to elicit sympathy for going to Milan, Las Vegas and San Diego over the course of 6 weeks. “Boy, you think you’ve got it tough. . .”

In that spirit, I won’t even try to express any sort of discomfort over tonight’s gala in NYC. It’s a dinner/dance benefit event for Just One Break, an employment service for people with disabilities. Pfizer’s outgoing R&D chief is one of the honorees, and one of my pals at that company kindly invited me and my wife. (Thanks, Mak!)

I’m suspicious that this is just a plot by my (day job) readership to find out exactly what sorta woman would consent to spend the rest of her life married to me, so I’m thinking of asking Amy to wear a burka to the event.

I, meanwhile, am wrestling with the concept of “black tie optional.” I don’t think that covers leather chaps and a giant sombrero, so it looks like I’ll have to stop off at the dry cleaner and ransom my nice black suit.

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Missingthepoint.net

I was going through our office’s mail just now, so I could grab my industry-specific magazines before they get filed. I have to keep up with some of our competitors, like Genetic Engineering News and Pharmaceutical Processing. We’re all on each other’s mailing lists, usually under funny names and fake companies. I also keep an eye out for general business magazines that have pharma-specific editorial, to see how much they get wrong.

Today, I came across one of the great business magazines of all time: Messaging News, The Technology of Email and Instant Messaging.

I chuckled over the idea of a print magazine devoted to instant electronic communication, but I really laughed when I discovered that it comes out bi-monthly.

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Givin’ him the business

Last business-trip of the year, dear readers! I’m off to San Diego for the AAPS conference! I managed to get two suits, a second pair of shoes, and a third day’s business attire in my carryon case! Sure, they’ll be a bit compressed by the time I get to my hotel, but at least I won’t have to stand around at baggage claim!

Oh, and happy Veteran’s Day / Armistice Day!

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Penn Paul

Driving to Pennsylvania yesterday (for this news event), I was reminded of what it’s like to live in a swing state. In presidential elections, NJ’s firmly in the Democratic camp, so we tend not to get much (any) outdoor political advertising.

In fall of 2004, I drove on Rt. 95 into Philadelphia and was amazed by the sheer volume of election signs as I approached the city. My favorite enormous billboards were the ones that complained about the loss of our freedom of speech.

Now, the general election is more than a year away and the state’s primaries are six months off, but Pennsylvania reminded me of its swing state status almost instantly. Moments after I entered the state, I saw yard signs for Ron Paul. As I drove below overpasses, I looked up to see banners for the guy.

No other candidates had any presence, so I’m not sure if this means that Paul’s got an iron grip on the Rt. 78/22 corridor of Pennsylvania or if his supporters are jumping the gun by a few months.

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“Then the hostess’s dog attacked me, so I had to stab it.”

Evidently, the role of my GP is being played by Dr. Spaceman (“That’s spi-CHEM-in!”). While I was getting treated for a sinus infection earlier this week, my doctor looked over my file and asked, “We prescribed some Ambien for you on your last visit. How’s that working?”

I replied, “Pretty well, but sometimes it doesn’t do a thing, so I lie there unable to sleep and pissed off at Sanofi-Aventis.”

“Well, have you tried taking two at a time?” he asked.

“What? NO!” I replied.

He proceeded to tell me that taking two of the 6.25mg doses was “just like” taking one of the higher dose, 12.5mg.

Later, when he asked about drug allergies, I expected him to say, “What can you do? Medicine’s not a science!”

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The most depressing job ever

One of the features in the October ish of my magazine is an interview with Dr. Robert Maguire, chief of operations for Wyeth’s R&D efforts. I finished laying out the section this morning, because I was waiting for the company to send over Dr. Maguire’s bio.

For any of you who think your job is a downer, Dr. Maguire’s first career should shut you up. Prior to working in the pharma industry, he was trained as a pediatric oncologist.

Try to imagine your spouse/partner working in that field, and then try to imagine asking, “How was work today?”

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Radio Silence

I know it sounds like I’m always under a huge pile of work, dear readers, but this time I mean it. Last week’s conference overrode my other responsibilities, and now I have to finish a 156-page issue by Friday morning, so I can catch my flight to Milan in the afternoon to cover the CPhI/ICSE conference.

Yesterday, I finally believed that this was doable. Shortly after that, I got pasted with a cold.

Upshot: you likely won’t see any posts here till Friday morning’s Unrequired reading. Oh, and you’ll probably get to see a bunch of neat photos from Milan & environs next week.