Jim Edwards over at Brandweek is getting dangerous. I guess I'm lucky he isn't a Pfizer lawyer:
Can Pfizer Get Over Its Anger and Utilize the Leverage It Has With Rost?
It's extremely difficult to ignore the fact that Fortune has done a flattering feature story on Peter Rost. Rost could be on the verge of parlaying his position in the media from "one hit blogging wonder" into "permanent fixture that all drug companies will have to deal with in the future."
Whether Rost can successfully negotiate the transition over the next couple of years will be interesting. (It won't be a secret, of course. He'll tell us all about it whether we like it or not.) My money says Rost could be in this for the long run.
There is, of course, one variable -- his two ongoing lawsuits against Pfizer, which to my knowledge are both unresolved.
What Pfizer's general counsel's office has been ignoring so far -- probably because the lawyers there find Rost infuriating -- is that they actually have a fantastic opportunity in front of them that no other drug company has: The ability to tie Rost up in a legal settlement that would prevent him from blogging about Pfizer ever again.
If Pfizer is ever able to swallow its pride and offer Rost a decent settlement, it is highly likely that they would require that he never say a public word again about the company. And given the scale of pharma settlements, it is highly likely, IMHO, that Rost would feel duty bound to accept those terms. He has a house, wife and kids to provide for after all, and bloggging and publishing don't make people rich.
Ironically, there are several pharma companies -- AZ among them -- who would love to be in Pfizer's position right now for that exact reason.
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More comments on other blogs, click on headline to read:
Peter Rost Makes a Fortune
By Impactiviti
"Fortune magazine, that is. The Whistleblower gets written up for his activities exposing wrongdoing among Big Pharma companies."
Peter Rost: A Professional Pain In The…
By Ed Silverman
"The man Pfizer loves to hate is profiled in Fortune magazine…."
"One mistake Fortune made in its article - in discussing Rost and the AstraZeneca scandal, the magazine asserts the mainstream press followed the trail. In fact, except for The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Delaware News-Journal, the mainstream press missed the boat. The blogs, Rost and just a few others, including this one, forced big pharma to come to grips with this new medium. "
Fortune Magazine Touches on a Secret of Peter Rost’s Blog Success: Empathy
By pharmamanufacturing
"John Mack once suggested that some pharma bloggers write about Peter Rost in the hope of “riding in his wake,” and increasing their own site traffic and links. It might seem that way, but, let’s face it. Rost has been one of the most enigmatic figures in . . ."
FORTUNE - PharmaGossip: " Witty Brit takes on drugmakers"
By insider
"Click on this link and See the box in the middle! Oh yeah! There's also an article about some guy called Rost."
8 comments:
too bad Pfizer's lawyer's couldn't find their ass with both hands...from someone who knows they would spend millions to save a few thousand...they are on inept group may Josh Levy can snap some sense into them being an IVY league guy...har har
If Pfizer is ever able to swallow its pride and offer Rost a decent settlement, it is highly likely that they would require that he never say a public word again about the company"
Is this why you're writing this blog? The real reason you "question Authority?" to try and cash in?? Blackmailling Pfizer to pay you $millions for your silence??? If thats so, it makes you no better than the big P, just in it for the big bucks. Looks like there are no ethical heroes left :-(
I say take the money...cash the check....and go underground and continue to be Robert Goulet messing with their stuff..
How much money -- less than $1 Million, an "astronomical amount", something in betweeen? -- should Peter accept from Pfizer in exchange for his silence?
Peter might like to know what you think.
You can take my poll here:
http://pharmablogosphere.blogspot.com/2007/06/pfizer-to-rost-offer-you-cant-refuse.html
It's great to be quoted out of context, but Your readers may be interested in what else I actually said regarding other bloggers linking to your stories:
Where’s the Added Value?
But bloggers also link to other bloggers for reasons other than getting higher visibility in search engines. The best reason for linking to other bloggers is because you have something to add to the conversation that the other blogger started.
Most of the bloggers who linked back to Rost’s latest whistleblower posting merely re-iterated the story and referred back to Rost for details. Some suggested that Pfizer should have rewarded Rost and prevented all the bad publicity he is now generating.
But from what I see, few other bloggers had anything substantive to add to the conversation. You know, some more information about pharma’s foreign subsidiaries, Pfizer’s world domination, common business practices in foreign countries like India, etc.
No blogger I know of offered a critical analysis or helped us better understand the issue. I could have used more views on the topic — not more links back to Rost — in order to understand what appears to be a complicated case.
For more, see:
http://pharmablogosphere.blogspot.com/2007/05/riding-in-peter-rosts-wake.html
John Mack you are pompous asshole..who made you king of the blogs...why don't you take your fat head and shove it
I link Peter because he speaks my language and the language of a lot of retaliation victims especially from Pfizer. I don't think I can say it better as a matter of fact I use my blog to repost issues I am interested in and the bizzare behavior of Pfizer. I truly think Peter gets it and has an edge I am not sure JM appreciates. Peter is the man
Billofrights2007
If Dr. Rost is entitled to a settlement, his family deserves every dime.
We all have our motivations.
I remain anonymous because I fear retaliation and need to earn a living. However, if offered a large settlement with a 'gag order' attached I'd probably take it and move on.
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