Want  to  lunch one-on-one with a senior exec from a major pharma company and help people in the developing world at the same time?

UK/US Life science consulting firm Alacrita,  based in the Cambridge Innovation Center, has launched a benefit auction in which you can bid for a two-hour, one-to-one lunch with senior executives from the pharmaceutical industry who have donated their time to the appeal.

According to Alacrita Partner Rob Johnson,   the appeal aims to raise money for WaterAid, an international non-profit organization that  transforms the lives of people in the world’s poorest countries by improving access to safe water and sanitation.

Bidding opened Monday 3^rd December and closes on Thursday 13^th December on 5pm EST/10pm GMT.

In order to bid,  click on a name, below. You will be redirected to eBay for bidding.

• Heather Bell, Head of Corporate Strategy and Shaun Grady, Head of Business Development at AstraZeneca (one lunch)
• Moncef Slaoui, Chairman, Research & Development at GlaxoSmithKline
• Douglas Giordano, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Business Development at Pfizer
• Susan Silbermann, President and General Manager, Vaccines, Specialty Care Business Unit and Polly Murphy Vice President, Specialty Care Business Unit Business Development at Pfizer (one lunch)
• Graham Brazier, Vice President, Business Development, Strategic Transactions Group at Bristol-Myers Squibb
• Pamela Demain, Executive Director, Corporate Licensing at Merck
• Susan Jane Herbert, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Business Development and Strategy and Annalisa Jenkins, Executive Vice President and Head of Global Drug Development & Medical and Belen Garijo, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Merck Serono (one lunch)

Bidding  will be open until 13^th December, 5pm EST/10pm GMT.

Johnson said: “We are thrilled to launch this year’s seasonal appeal to raise funds for WaterAid. 783 million people, or one in ten of the world’s population, live without access to safe water and last year WaterAid reached 1.6 million people with water and 1.9 million people with sanitation in 27 countries. ”

David Winder, CEO of WaterAid, America added: “We are delighted that Alacrita has chosen to  donate the proceeds of their charity auction to  WaterAid.  Every day, 2,000 children die from water-related diseases that could easily be prevented.  The funds raised will help us reach more of the world’s poorest people with safe, clean water and sanitation.  These vital basic services are essential for saving  lives, improving health and reducing poverty in the world’s poorest countries.”

–Anita M. Harris
New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group,  an award-winning PR/content marketing and social media firm specializing in health, science, technology and energy.

The pharmaceutical industry and especially Pfizer will hate Ed Zwick’s forthcoming movie–Love and Other Drugs–which portrays drug reps  as money-grubbing sex fiends.  

But while the  film, starring   Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway,  is loaded withsex scenes and Viagra jokes, don’t be fooled: it’s funny and enjoyable for the most part but deals with some very difficult and provocative themes.

In the film,  neer-do-well salesman  Jamie Randall (Gyllenhaal) takes up with the beautiful and insightful  Maggie Murdoch (Hathaway) who, at age 26, has been diagnosed with Stage 1 Parkinson’s Disease. Like Erich Segal’s 1970 Love Story, the film portrays the joys of love but also the anguish that comes with any incurable illness– here, in the context of seemingly uncaring pharmaceutical and medical industries.

Hathaway is convincing, even mesmorizing as the artist and activist who brings old people to Canada to buy drugs. Gyllenhaal is believable and fun as a manipulative salesman who seduces, in one way or another, every woman he meets. The two portray their characters’ evolving realization/questioning of what’s important in life.

I enjoyed the film, but I left feeling unsettled and a bit disturbed–a result of tension between the funny and sad parts, worry about the future of the characters—and wonder about how I myself might deal with a loved one’s serious health issues

My friend K commented that while he liked the film, he felt it was opportunistic –that Zwick and the actors will make a ton of money–while people with Parkinsons and other incurable, debilitating diseases will just go on struggling. 

But I thought Zwick did a great job of personalizing and making more manageble what can sometimes seem like overwhelming problems,  and that he has performed an important service by asking serious questions in a way that will be palatable to a  mass audience.

I recently met Zwick– who was having a publicity photo  taken at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge–and asked why he made the film. It wasn’t for money, he said. He’d been impressed with Jamie Reidy’s  non-fiction book Hard Sell: The Evolution of a Viagra Salesman, on which the movie is based,  and had personal experience with a situation like the one the movie describes.

For the pharmaceutical industry…it’s not a pretty picture. But I guess they’ll have to–and have the resources to –fend for themselves.

The film is to be released in late November. In the meatime, here’s a link to the official site and a trailer:  http://www.loveandotherdrugsthemovie.com/

—Anita M. Harris
New Cambridge Observer is a publication of the Harris Communications Group of Cambridge, MA.

The Cambridge Innovation Center and quite a few companies will be holding open houses this Thursday in Kendall Square, Cambridge–as part of the nine-day Cambridge Science Festival.

Billed on its Web site as “the first of its kind in the nation,”  the annual Festival opened on Saturday, April 24, to showcase  Cambridge as an internationally recognized leader in science, technology, engineering and math.  A multifaceted, multicultural event held every spring, the Cambridge Science Festival makes science accessible, interactive and fun.

A myriad of events–ranging from talks and panel discussions to demonstrations, luncheons, museum exhibits, elementary school science fairs  and company open houses–are listed at the  Festival’s Schedule of Events.

I expect to be at the Cambridge Innovotion Center open house at 1 Broadway  on Thursday evening–as will my client, InVivo Therapeutics, and   Vitality, Seeding Labs, Acorn Product Development,   HubSpot and other companies.   The Venture Cafe, on the 11th floor,  will be open to the public  from 6-9 pm.