The horror and the pity: Obesity and diabetes - Volume 21, Issue

Something less beguiling for a horror-story addict than the emergence of obesity would be hard to imagine. Start by reading the 27 August 2011 issue of the Lancet. One article predicts that the obesity rate in the UK will make the tremendous leap fro…

Writing for lay audiences - Volume 24, Issue

For most of us, medical writing is highly technical. We prepare regulatory or clinical documents or write materials targeted to medical doctors. Medical writing for lay audiences is different, and it does not come naturally to most of us because…

President's Message - Volume 24, Issue

Dear EMWA Members, When we surged en masse onto the dance floor at the Dublin Conference Spring Dinner, supercool ceilidh band ‘Perfect Friction’ were astonished, wondering ‘…what are these medical writers all about?’ We certainly breathed life…

In the Bookstores - Volume 22, Issue

The Spirit Level

Ever had a ‘ping’ moment? This book might have been mine. I'm not a natural pessimist, but Western society today seems less cohesive and people more materialistic, stressed, unhealthy, and unhappy than in times gone by. Wealth and s…

Message from the President - Volume 22, Issue

Dear colleagues Time really does fly when you're having fun: I'm writing my third message since becoming EMWA President in May! The 37th EMWA Conference in Barcelona was an exciting event in a great location. We welcomed 102 new members, and 240…

Message from the President - Volume 21, Issue

Dear Members I am sure you are all very familiar with this situation – sitting in front of a blank piece of paper (or to be more accurate a blank screen) and wondering where to start. Beginnings and endings always seem to be the trickiest part, but…

Medical writing around the world - Volume 22, Issue

As many of you are already familiar, Medical Writing began as The Write Stuff, a publication written by and for EMWA members. One of the goals in making the transition to Medical Writing was that it would become an international journal with readers…

Message from the President - Volume 23, Issue

These two years in the Executive Committee flew by. They will remain in my heart for ever. It is difficult to summarise the emotions and the things we accomplished these last two years. When this adventure started in Cyprus, Susan Bhatti, the…

Good pharma - Volume 22, Issue

Drugs companies publish only a fraction of their results and keep much of the information to themselves. Drug companies are ‘debasing’ drug trials whose publication in journals can apparently confer scientific approval. Merck had fought for years to …

Medical writing for generics throughout the life cycle - Volume 28, Issue

Medical writing plays an integral part in the pharmaceutical industry, be it for originator or generic drug companies. Most writers are working for medium to large research-based companies. However, even for generic drug firms many documents need to…