Big Pharma Slaps Us Across the Face

Will Smith and company play their roles

So… Chris Rock made a mediocre Oscar night joke at the expense of Jada Pinkett Smith’s alopecia and Jada’s husband, Will Smith, allegedly slapped him on live TV. This pre-scripted silliness has set the internet on fire — all across the various algorithms and hive minds. In case you haven’t pondered anything about the deeper context, these two items might help:

1. Pfizer (in collaboration with BioNTech) sponsored the Academy Awards. Here’s what their PR team said the following day: 

“Oscar-winning actor Will Smith slapping comedian Chris Rock made the biggest headlines out of the Oscars Sunday night. But the sponsorship from Pfizer and COVID shot partner BioNTech was for the pharma marketing world a bigger moment. The vaccine-making pair, which teamed up two years ago and produced the world’s biggest-selling product last year in Comirnaty, their COVID-19 shot, joined forces again to sponsor the biggest night in Hollywood.”

“Pfizer and BioNTech are proud to support the Oscars, and we are heartened to see the film industry gather in person and alongside fans to celebrate the talent and artistry produced during the past year,” a Pfizer spokesperson declared.

2. Very recently, Pfizer announced “positive top-line results from the Phase 2b/3 ALLEGRO trial evaluating oral once-daily ritlecitinib in patients with [wait for it] alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease driven by an immune attack on the hair follicles that causes hair loss on the scalp and can also affect the face and body. Ritlecitinib 50 mg and 30 mg achieved the primary efficacy endpoint of the study, namely the proportion of patients with less than or equal to 20 percent scalp hair loss after six months of treatment versus placebo.”

P.S. Alopecia may be a side effect of the jab.

Keep yer guard up…