News Flash: You can't have it all.

• Do you feel like you're stuck in the 20th century? 
• Are you a physician who would like a smartphone app to help you make prescribing decisions? 
• And are you opposed to apps that cost anything more than free? 

Good news! You can put your Luddite days behind you. Epocrates is here (it actually has been here for three years) to make your prescribing decisions easier.

• Oh, you also don't want any drug ads or pharma marketing content on the app? That's asking too much.

According to Duff Wilson of the New York Times, doctors who generally resist pharma marketing aren't safe from drug companies should they choose to use a "free" program such as Epocrates. (Shouldn't be a huge surprise.)

"Pfizer, the world's largest drug maker, has certainly found the marketing channel to be an effective way to reach doctors. 'The beauty of the work we do with Epocrates is that we literally put ourselves in the palm of their hand,' said Dr. Freda Lewis Hall, chief medical officer at Pfizer."

Read the whole article, here.

Pharmaceutical Industry Infographic

Check this out, courtesy of Standard Madness.

Genetic Testing for Sports Genes

According to this article in the Washington Post "at least two companies have begun selling tests that claim to help match youngsters with the sports they are genetically programmed to play best. The DNA scans, the first of an expected wave of attempts to use genes to enhance athletic performance, can steer children toward games they are most likely to win — and perhaps get scholarships to play." Wow. Just...wow.

Not just for eyelashes anymore

Latisse, the eyelash enhancer, is currently being experimented as a treatment for baldness. Check it out in the NY Times.

The most highly paid pharma executives?

The winner for 2010 is Johnson & Johnson CEO Bill Weldon, with $28.7 million.  Read about it at Fierce Pharma.

"Court Hears Arguments In Data Mining Case"

http://www.npr.org/2011/04/26/135745195/supreme-court-hears-case-on-data-mining

A social media clinical trial?

The WSJ reports on an intriguing new clinical trial of lithium for ALS -- conducted on PatientsLikeMe.  Read about it here.