Saturday, September 13, 2008

Politics, or no? You decide. Take a new poll, at left.


In response to a well-reasoned comment I received tonight, I thought I'd conduct another poll -- see the left margin matter to vote:

Anonymous said. . . .

People come to your blog to read about SGP and its trials and tribulations. Lately you have become more political and few who read your posts are that interested in your opinion about politics -- it's just not why they come to your site. Stick to your core competency and leave the political punditry to the Richard Craniums of the world -- lest you become one.

September 12, 2008 5:10 PM

Okay, fair enough -- I do genuinely strive to offer compelling content (generally not elsewhere reported in this sort of detail) to the audience that takes the time to stop by, and read, here. Do you, loyal readers, think I ought to leave political discussions (of U.S. Health Care Reform Hearings, etc.) off of the covered-topics-list here?

For what it's worth -- I do see Schering, at present, as a prime example of what's broken in the American Health Care delivery model -- at least insofar as big pharma contributes to the dis-incentives, dislocations, and occasionally dangerous inefficiencies so many Americans experience.

What do you think? Take the poll, at left.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Condor,

It's not politics per se that I have concerns about. For example I loved the graph you showed on the projected deficits in medicaid / medicare / SS from the senate hearings last June 16th. Many of the other things e.g. hearings I also would not have viewed and found things out if it weren't for you, and I do believe that the broader context and how this effects SP is important. What I have difficulty with is the partisan nature of some of your comments with regards to the presidential election. I am not sure which of the 2 candidates at this point is really the one who is more committed to cleaning up the Pharma/FDA connection. As for myself even if a candidate may not be as attractive to me on other issues the implications of industry control of the FDA would at least for me would likely override other concerns. As for broader context you and your readers might want to check out the comments on the following article at Pharmalot.

http://www.pharmalot.com/2008/09/fda-touts-its-recruiting-drive-but-will-it-work/

An FDA reviewer is giving some insights into some of what is going on inside FDA. This is the type of context that could effect SP and other Pharma companies either prior to the elections and the preemption case, or immediately afterwards.

Salmon

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link -- and more importantly -- thanks for your perspective!

I'll cover hearings -- and likely let my readership decide for themselves who'll be in a better position to reform the FDA/pharma interface.

I -- like many -- do, however, expect that Schering is going to have a marginally harder time than most other big pharma players -- with getting drug candidates all the way through FDA's approval process, given this now-clearly-spotted record (seasoned with at least the hint of duplicity). . . .

Cheers!