Drug Channels XR: New and Improved!

Welcome back! Drug Channels is now back in session.

As you can see, I spent time over the summer fixin' up the joint. In the spirit of the pharmaceutical industry, let's call it Drug Channels XR – a new formulation that will keep you away from those pesky copycats.

Here's a quick rundown on some new features, coming attractions, and an explanation of why I won't be twittering (or tweeting) anytime soon.

A QUICK TOUR

I have redesigned and updated the entire Drug Channels site. All of the content is still here, but you should find it much easier to access and share everything. Notable new features:

1. Two Sidebars = Twice the fun!

2. Social media: The button at the bottom of each post will allow you to easily email any article or post it to your favorite social networking site (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, et al). I hope you find my posts worthy of sharing.

3. LinkedIn? Yup, I've jumped on the bandwagon and have an account at http://www.linkedin.com/in/adamjfein. I accept almost all invitations, so please feel free to connect with me.

4. Print this Post: When online just isn't good enough, you can now efficiently deforest the planet (but now with better formatting).

5. Improved search: DC now has an integrated Google blog search engine, which is much faster and more comprehensive than the old search feature.

I've tested the site with multiple browsers and operating systems, but please let me know if you encounter any problems using the new site.

COMING ATTRACTIONS

Despite what you might believe about my glamorous life as a surfer, I was actually working all summer. I'll hit a few developments from summer 2009 in upcoming posts. You may find this summary list to be a helpful guide:

• Inglourious Basterds (An update on the rational, reasonable health care reform debate)

• The Hurt Locker (Defusing the AWP time bomb)

• Star Trek (Walgreens boldly goes into a cost-plus deal)
  

• Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen (Pharmacies push anti-PBM legislation)

• District 9 (Relocating that pesky AMP problem)

• The Hangover (Huh? How did I get here? Walmart is doing what?!?)

• Julie & Julia (Cooking up some online counterfeit drug fun)

The number one most requested item from my April reader survey (91% of respondents) was "A downloadable report written by Dr. Fein on future trends for the retail pharmacy industry." As you wish! Stay tuned for the official announcement in a few weeks.

WHAT, NO TWITTER?

So far, I have resisted the siren chirp of this new platform, especially when I learned that MC Hammer has 1.4 million followers. (Really.) I'm not opposed to it, I'm just too darn busy to be interrupting you (and me) all the time. (Insert "MC Hammer must have time on his hands" joke here.)

Nevertheless, you can follow me http://www.twitter.com/adamjfein, although I have not tweeted yet. Maybe I never will. (UPDATE: You can now follow the blog at http://www.twitter.com/DrugChannels.)

In the meantime, please enjoy this very revealing interview of Twitter co-founder Biz Stone by pundit Stephen Colbert. A familiar business strategy for pharma?

Stone: "It's the messaging service we didn't know we needed until we had it."

Colbert: "That sounds like the answer to a problem that we didn't have until I invented the answer."

FYI, I monitor the twitterverse using a clever little application called TweetDeck. Caveat tweetor.