‘Twas a busy week dominated by the AstraZeneca scandal - a crass newsletter; vague company denials about its origins; the firing of a sales manager; anonymous e-mails claiming internal knowledge of off-label marketing; and a belated statement in which the drugmaker admits receiving employee complaints that have supposedly led to an internal investigation.

Interestingly, AstraZeneca was largely silent much of the week, but by Friday, was forced to reply to a few blogs, including Pharmalot, after it became clear the affair would not simply go away as quickly as a newsletter could be tossed in the trash. (For earlier posts, scroll down or click on ‘AstraZeneca’ on the tags along the lower right for this past week’s collection).

Where was the mainstream media in all this? Almost entirely absent. But already, the episode signals a new chapter in the way the pharmaceutical industry is being scrutinized and to whom drugmakers must answer, like it or not. Blogs, whether run by whistleblowers, marketers, patients or journalists, are a new front. And there’s no going back.

Next week is likely to be still busier. Here’s why:

Monday: Eli Lilly reports earnings;

Tuesday: House Energy and Commerce committee PDUFA hearing;

Wednesday: Senate Health Education Labor and Pensions committee PDUFA hearing;

Thursday: Merck, Schering-Plough and Wyeth report earnings;

Friday: Pfizer reports earnings.

[tags]AstraZeneca, PDUFA[/tags]