The blogopharmasphere?

This year has been a busy one for Big Pharma: Billion dollar legal settlements, game-changing mergers, and labor cutbacks of epic proportions have kept the industry (and industry watchers) off balance for much of 2009. But all the turmoil hasn't stopped a few of Big Pharma's giants from communicating directly with the internet-browsing public through official blogs of their own. The newest addition to the Big Pharma blogosphere is AstraZeneca's AZ Health Connections, which just threw its hat into the ring in the middle of last month and has about five posts archived on the site. "Health affects us all," the first entry, posted on the 16th of October reads, "and we feel it's important that we join the community of doctors, nurses, patients, policymakers, pundits and consumers who are engaging in constructive debate and conversation." But in AZ Heath Connections' latest entry, posted last Friday, the blog finds itself defending its approach from critics in the already-robust health care blogosphere.