Yup, just about anything can be outsourced these days. Even medical education. From a press release:

Healthways Communications, Inc., a privately-held medical communications company, announced today that it is joining forces with one of the largest medical communications company in India to increase the breadth and reach of its Scientific Editorial Content and Development Division. This collaboration will result in up to a 50% reduction in content development time and considerable reduction in overall cost in comparison to industry standards for scientific and editorial content and development.



For pharmaceutical and health care organizations, there are significant advantages in outsourcing programs to India. According to an August, 2005 Frost & Sullivan report among India‘s strengths are an English speaking work force, a well trained medical community, a high level of quality and, most importantly, FDA acceptance.




“Our strategic relationship in India provides us with a unique competitive advantage among our larger counterparts with respect to cost and manpower, without sacrificing the superior quality to which our client base has become accustomed,” said Patricia Coleine, President of Healthways.




The combined alliance most recently produced pro bono hurricane disaster training materials for use in the Gulf States by physicians, emergency personnel workers, and the general populace.

Whoa, here’s one I never would have thought of. According to the New York Daily News, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America commissioned a pulp fiction novel about a Croatian terrorist cell that murders Americans looking for cheap pharmaceuticals through Canadian Web sites. From the article:

In a tale worthy of a zany Washington satire - except for the lamentable fact that it’s true - the rich and powerful pharmaceutical lobby secretly commissioned a thriller novel whose aim was to scare the living daylights out of folks who might want to buy cheap drugs from Canada.



When the project fell through in July, I’m told the drug lobby offered $100,000 to the co-authors and publisher in a vain effort to sweep it under the rug.

PhRMA says it was just an idea a consultant had, and they didn’t go through with it. Wow, even my mind isn’t devious enough to come up with a plot like this! (Thanks to Health Care Renewal for the pointer.)

Buzzword of the day, courtesy of Buzzwhack.com:

mercky: Pharmaceutically dubious. “Data from the Vioxx trials are in and the results

appear to be mercky.”

Nominated by Alan Skolnick