Pharma Scientists Mad at Hollywood! Hackers Mad at Pharma!
They Don't Like Portrayal of BioPharma Scientists in Movies
[From www.statnews.com] “Big Pharma is a perfect movie villain because it’s combining the mad scientist of science fiction with the big banks, the big-money villains of dramas and thrillers,” said Miranda Banks, an associate professor of cinema studies at Emerson College.
And the drug industry, witting or not, isn’t helping its cause with all those TV drug ads.
“Think about what the American public sees,” said Jeanine Basinger, a movie historian and professor of film studies at Wesleyan University. “Let’s say you’re watching TV and on comes an ad for Vicatacapoo. ‘It’ll make you well! It’s wonderful! And let me just mention the side effects: You will turn into a kangaroo, your ears will fall off, and you won’t be able to have sex.’”
And thus a replicable cinematic formula: Combine a noble scientific endeavor gone awry with a virulent strain of capitalism and you get — spoiler from 1968 — the downfall of human society.
Actual scientists are not always amused.
“I think it’s a huge chasm,” said John Maraganore, CEO of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and chairman of BIO, the biotech sector’s largest trade group. “We’re an industry where our scientists come to work every day not worried about making money but about new inventions, new discoveries, and cures for patients.”
Pharmaguy's Insight
"...come to work every day not worried about making money"? LOL! Surely, SOMEONE comes to work every day at every pharma company worried about making money – sometimes at the expense of patients! Which counteracts the "good guy" scientist image.
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Merck Warns Some Drug Supplies May Be Delayed Due to Cyber Attack
Profits Delayed Also!
[From www.fiercepharma.com] Merck & Co., one of the victims of the Petya cyberattack last month, has yet to fully restore its manufacturing and R&D operations since they were targeted more than four weeks ago. And though it didn't hit the company's second-quarter results, the global attack and its costs are an unexpected blow to Merck's prospects for the rest of the year.
According to MarketWatch (here), Merck said that the network cyberattack caused it to issue conservative 2017 guidance. Merck said it "does not yet know the magnitude of the impact of the disruption," but that guidance would have been higher if not for the cyberattack's impact.
Linkedin Comment
"So stupid that Merck was not prepared. Amazing for an industry so obsessed with secrecy and risk mitigation." - comment by Chirag Jay Patel.
Pharmaguy's Insight
Would you trust giving Merck personal data? Not me! Merck's privacy policy states: "We secure personal information that you provide online to prevent it from being used and shared for other purposes."
Further Reading:
- Stupid Companies Like Merck Are Hacked. Update Your Windows Software Dummies!
- Merck left the door open to a devastating cyberattack, missing two chances to raise a defense
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The Pharma Industry News Update (aka PinUp) is published every Tuesday and Friday as part of the Pharma Marketing News subscription service. It features curated pharma industry news and views of topical interest from a variety of sources. If you'd like to receive this newsletter, subscribe here.
About the Author
John (PharmaGuy) Mack is a constructive critic of the pharmaceutical industry. You can follow him on Twitter as @pharmaguy
eDiscovery/Information Governance/Cybersecurity Leader | CCSA, ITIL, MCSE
7yKey stakeholders will need to prioritize, raise awareness, and provide funding for efforts to further secure not only the data, but the entire chain of custody. It's concerning to think of how data might be manipulated by bad actors to affect the outcomes of research efforts or trials to gain advantage or leverage. Peer review is used to validate research findings, but should further steps beyond the pharma validation process be mandated to certify the integrity of the data through it's entire chain of custody? Technologies and processes exist to do this, but how widespread is the use? Small start-ups working on innovative compounds or technologies are particularly at risk due to their limited resources. At the very least, an analysis of the data integrity should be performed during any merger, acquisition or divestiture to avoid such headaches. It's bad enough to be denied access to your data through ransom-ware, but imagine if the integrity of all your data is called into question by the regulatory authorities...or worse, affects patient outcomes! Information governance efforts must closely align with cyber-security efforts to protect and ensure the entire data life-cycle.