When I went to the FDA's Web site today I was surprised to see on the homepage a link to a letter written by Commissioner Dr. Peggy Hamburg. It's addressed to "Dear Healthcare Professional" aka a "Dear Doctor letter." That's a common type of communication from the agency and/or companies to the medical community, usually when they've got bad news to pass along about a drug or device. It's pretty rare for the commish to write one.

Many analysts, lobbyists and industry executives have been saying for months that healthcare reform would probably end up being a net positive for the drug companies.

Stacy and Clinton definitely had nothing to do with it, but Sanofi-Pasteur (the vaccines division of Sanofi-Aventis) greets visitors with a "What Not To Wear" brochure.

I am not a Trekkie. In fact, sci-fi and fantasy are two of of my least favorite genres. But the Vulcan salutation was one of the first things I thought of when I went to the facelifted Merck Web site this morning to link to and print the press release about the new Merck.

Pfizer, or one of its ad agencies, is apparently putting out a casting call for a new Lipitor pitchman.

Over the past few days there's been a remarkable confluence of newsflow, most of it positive, out of biopharma. First the bad news.