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September 29, 2009 1:55 PM

The 10 Weirdest Drug Stories of the Month

By
Jim Edwards
(MoneyWatch)  Chantix made someone shoot me! Drugs that look like candy! GSK's CASSPER ghostwriting program was "a horrible idea"! It all happened in September, 2009. Enjoy:
  1. Pfizer sued by family of drunk man shot while on Chantix Dallas musician Carter Albrecht got wasted while on the anti-smoking drug, went berserk, and ended up being shot dead by a neighbor. His family believes Pfizer is to blame.
  2. 36 medicines that look exactly like candy Or is it candy that looks like meds? Taste them and find out. (Click to enlarge.)
  3. Italian police bust Viagra prescription ring "Five of them caught red-handed," according to news service.
  4. Ghostwriting is bad? Oh, now you tell me! The president of the agency that ran GlaxoSmithKline's CASSPER program admits: "The name of the program? In hindsight, it was a horrible idea," he said, adding that "the title was whimsical, not sinister. At that time, around 2000, there were no negative ethical implications associated with the term ghostwriter."
  5. Fosamax juror threw a chair during deliberations What the hell is wrong with people? An entire trial derailed because someone learned their manners from reality TV.
  6. Mystery Lilly poet finds muse in CEO Lechleiter and is also a plagiarist One commenter on Cafe Pharma was moved to pen some verse: The name we gave is fitting/and helped us to believe/"Lilly" is unsinkable/a long life she will lead ... Another punctures the balloon, however. The poem was ripped off from an earlier one about the Titanic.
  7. Twilight's Michael Welch to shill for Allergan The tween vampire movie star will promote Aczone on a web site themed after High School Musical.
  8. Celebrity dancer Karina Smirnoff speaks out for Shire on how ADHD has impacted her life Don't take Adderall or Vyvanse. You might end up on Dancing With the Stars.
  9. Pfizer is nice to gays. So is Lilly. Big Blue wins top marks in a survey because corporate policy bans discrimination based on "sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression." I guess they didn't meet Reggie Spizzle during their research. Separately, Lilly was recognized for the same thing.
  10. Novartis wants to implant a chip inside you to tell you when to take your drugs As long as it also plays MP3s, I don't really mind.

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc.. All Rights Reserved.
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