A GUY WHO WORKS AT PFIZER wrote me about my book — nothing really relevant here — but in my reply to him I wrote:

BTW, we love Pfizer in my house because your exotic anti-arrhythmic drug Tikosyn has changed my wife’s life. It’s genuinely a miracle drug for her.

He emailed back:

I will pass your thanks along to the guys in the lab. You have no idea how much this kind of message matters to them –and to all of us. We KNOW there’s a pony in there somewhere but some days it’s not easy to remember that.

It’s kind of sad that such a small email means so much, but I suppose that these guys get a lot more criticism than praise, despite the miracles they produce. But it occurs to me that — while so-called “Big Pharma” may not be perfect — drug companies have done a lot more to make my life better than their critics have. Maybe someone should point that out more often.

UPDATE: Related thoughts from TigerHawk.