No sooner do we point out that Johnson & Johnson has started a corporate blog do we learn that Glaxo has begun alliConnect, a blog centered around a specific product. In this case, it’s the new diet pill, which is getting all sorts of attention - some good, some bad.

And so the onslaught has begun. Big pharma is embracing the blog concept in order to shape and, if necessary, counteract the discussion about its activities and products. Of course, these are tightly controlled and so the content and comments are more than likely to restrict the scope of conversation.

Here’s the party line from the ‘Legal Stuff’ section: “This blog is written by employees of GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare who are authorized to speak on behalf of the company. Our posts and answers to your comments reflect our company’s point of view. They are based on the latest in science and what we’ve learned from talking to consumers. When we offer personal points of views, or talk about our experience with alli, we’ll make sure that’s clear.”

Soon enough, though, we suspect these blogs will be used by companies to not only to disseminate their own views of their world, but also to fend off unexpected and unwanted verbiage. Should that happen, perhaps big pharma will find itself entering real conversations anyway.

Hat tip to PharmaGossip