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The Drug and Device Law Blog occupies its own niche on the web. We think mainly about the law, but we also care about the pharmaceutical and medical device industries generally. We thought we’d take a minute to identify other players in our two fields.
First, the legal side. Justia blawg search categorizes us as a “product liability” blog. Fair enough; that’s what we are. Justia identifies a total of ten product liability blogs on the web. The Asbestos Law Blog hasn’t had a new post in nearly three years, and the California Asbestos Law Blog has seemingly been dormant for six months; we won’t even bother providing links.
Plaintiff’s-side bloggers include Drug Injury Watch, Prescription Drug Liability Law Blog, the Benzene and Asbestos Law Blog, and the Asbestos and Mesothelioma Blog. We don’t agree with what they say, but we’ll defend to the death their right to say it.
The other side of the coin includes the New York Asbestos Defense Litigation Blog. That’s in the field of product liability, but it’s not drugs or devices, and so is not in our power alley.
Juvan’s Health Law Blog is also classified by justia as a “product liability” blog, although we’re not sure the classification makes much sense. The blog covers pharmaceutical and health care issues generally, but it doesn’t spend much time on the issues dear to product liability lawyers’ hearts.
The last “product liability” blog captured by justia is the Product Liability Prof Blog. This is a different kind of creature. The blog is hosted by three law professors, who have the time and inclination to think about the issues, and they tend to post about stuff that’s noteworthy. Along the same lines, we like Bill Childs’ Torts Prof Blog. It’s also part of the law profs network of blogs, and Professor Childs makes a real contribution to the field. He led the league in coverage of the violation of a protective order in the Zyprexa litigation, and he often identifies new issues that are worth considering. The last of the law profs network that’s of direct interest to us is the Mass Tort Litigation Blog. To our eye, too many of the posts there don’t really add value. They simply report that a product has been recalled or a warning has been issued, rather than analyzing cases or thinking about litigation strategy. But the hosts occasionally focus on legal issues and, when they do, they treat them thoughtfully. And, hey — who knows? — maybe those guys save their deep thoughts for the law reviews.
Others commenting on the law include the crew at the Manhattan Institute, who post at pointoflaw.com and overlawyered.com. We really like those folks, because they pick up the political spectrum to our right on legal issues, and we hadn’t realized we’d left any breathing room there. They make us feel better about ourselves. Those blogs, however, don’t limit themselves to product liability (or drug and device) law; they analyze litigation much more generally.
In addition to product liability law, drug and device folks care about FDA regulatory law. A recent entry in that area is the FDA Law Blog, hosted by some lawyers at Hyman Phelps & McNamara. They cover case law on FDA-related issues, and we assume they’ll continue to do a good job of it. An older blog that covers related space is the Orange Book Blog, but that one focuses on the intersection of patent law and FDA law. Those of us who can just barely spell “IP” don’t visit often, but some readers of this blog might like that one.
That’s the legal side of the coin. There’s also the business side. For business news about the pharmaceutical industry, visit pharmalot. The host there is dedicated and quickly drawing a following in the blogosphere. Eye on FDA covers warning letters, advisory committee meetings, and other events at the agency.
Many of those blogs include “blogrolls,” linking to additional blogs that may be of interest. (We have a blogroll, too, over at the bottom of the right-hand column, but we’re both under- and over-inclusive. We link to only a select few blogs (which is not the preferred way of doing these things), and we include links to websites that are not blogs, but simply provide resources that may be of value to our readers.)
If there are other websites or blogs that we should visit or link to, please let us know. We’d like the Drug and Device Law Blog to be a useful central resource for folks, like us, who defend pharmaceutical product liability cases for a living.