Tysabri & Provenge:
I am very familiar with Elan & Tysabri, way back when it was called Antegren, and I did not at all expect this Provenge comparison:
<<<"The outpouring was organized and sponsored by the Yahoo ELN board">>>
That's an exaggeration. The MS community is already highly motivated in itself. I would judge that a small minority of AC attendees were organized by Elan YMBers. But it did happen (I have actually met the famous LJD when he went to court in NYC over the class action thing).
<<<"We organized MS Patients for Choice, with its own website">>>
At least partially true.
<<<"We secured group rates for the AC video feed - $20 instead of $200, if memory serves">>>
It was free in the end.
<<<"The paid lawyer shills - from competitors as well as MS organizations - were there to put down the drug and insist it was too dangerous">>>
Truer than I would have thought possible. A do-nothing not-for-profit MS shop (I shouldnt say this, but I just did) sent along its CEO to speak against Tysabri (which was absurd, seeing as actually no MS-er ever died from the drug, whereas MS causes hundreds of suicides alone every year).
Their website listed their sponsors as a perfect coalition of the MS competitors (Teva, Berlex, Serono) with their vastly weaker and intolerable drugs. Of course the main MS organizations wanted Tysabri back.
Actually I would say you have a point about Provenge, because in fact the PC community has little or no common voice, and the sufferers are probably not even internet savvy (unlike the MS-ers). It might certinly help balance against any Pazdur factor.