Showing posts with label Nobel Prize. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nobel Prize. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Will It Never End? Wither the Nobel?

The e-mail lists have been abuzz with the latest allegations of pharmaceutically linked impropriety. I can't seem to get the full link to appear in this post for some reason (I am actually doing this from a hotel in Beijing--go figure) , but go to www.newsmax.com and search for "Nobel Prize bribery." The allegations are that AstraZeneca stands to gain a lot of sales for its human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine as a result of the publicity of the discoverers of HPV winning the Nobel Prize, and so via a couple of intermediary PR organizations, it managed to exert financial influence over the prize committee. The Swedish authorities are investigating this as a possible criminal act, though according to the press account the Swedish media have been notably silent on the matter.