Topamax pen

Finally, a migraine medicine with a pen that doesn't give you a migraine to look at it. See Imitrex for comparison. I like this one a lot, but you know, I've got all the rest on this page to choose from, and this one hasn't made it to the top of the heap in a while.

Lovenox ID tag

Pretty much everyone in the hospital needs an ID badge, and it has to displayed prominently. Pretty easy to see how the drug companies figured out that a badge holder might be prime real estate.

I use a holder I bought, because I think these kinds of things are borderline obnoxious.

Levaquin highlighter

Another Levaquin trinket. This is actually quite useful, a highlighter with no cap to lose. It's in my bag now.

Benicar pen

Nothing particularly stands out about this one. Interesting color scheme, but it's a lot like any other pen.

Tarascon Primary Care book

This is a neat little book, mostly full of tidbits useful to the primary care practitioner. Unfortunately for the rep, I don't remember who gave this to me.

Crestor pen

Crestor spends a lot of money on television ads. I guess that's why their pens are so crappy. This one skips like a bunch of third graders playing hopscotch. And lest you think that was a sampling error, I have four others exactly like it, and none of them work well. If drug reps are trying to influence prescribing choices with their gifts, this one is definitely backfiring.

Guidant ruler

This is an odd ruler. It's only useful with EKG paper, and really, if you are the kind of person a Guidant rep is dealing with, chances are you don't need a ruler to count out a heart rate. That's cheating.
Guidant, by the way, makes cardiac pacemakers.

Merrem Maglite

This is far and away the coolest drug rep toy yet. And it has almost no use in my medical practice, since I haven't ever yet needed a flashlight in the hospital.

Vytorin pens

Two more Vytorin pens. These are great, and the top one is actually my first choice pen lately. Comfortable to hold, good weight.

Ranexa pen

This one is a new anti-anginal drug, and the pen is pretty cool too. Like the drug though, it's only about third-line in my choice of implements.

Advair pen

Sun microsystems pen

This pretty much solidifies my credentials as a nerd, but I like this pen because it's a non-medical rep pen. Sun microsystems makes computers. I have no idea where I got this thing, but I've had it a long time. I think it's the only pen on this site I've bothered replacing the ink for.

Zyvox pen

Zyvox is a super antibiotic. It's an IV only drug, which I guess explains the red color. (I shouldn't just write this stuff without checking my facts. Zyvox is oral and IV. Thanks, annonymous tipster. Now I have no idea why it's red.) Not a bad pen, still.

Zetia pen

Zetia is pulling out all the stops here I guess. First calipers, and now this really nice pen. It's a weird triangular shape, but it feels great, and it's part metal, so it has some nice wight to it.

Wellbutrin pen

Another Wellbutrin pen. Nice enough I guess.

Valtrex pens

We've had two drugs, same pen, but here's two pens, same drug. Nothing flashy, but then they aren't exactly unobtrusive either. I think I'd want that in a pen advertising our first line treatment for herpes. The bad kind.

Optiray pen

Optiray is a dye used in angiography. I have no idea whether it is good or not, but the pen is nice.

Lovenox Sharpie

Another salvo in the continuing war between Lovenox and Arixtra. These two medicines do very similar things (actually, the exact same thing) but there are slight differences in the side effect profiles. This means that sometimes we'll get both reps, alternating every other day, for a week straight, trying to win us over to using one or the other. This is basically a sharpie without a cap, so pretty useful. Lovenox is defintely winning the drug rep toy competition.

Imitrex pen

This pen is another ironic choice. Imitrex is an anti-migraine headache medicine. And I get a headache just looking at this thing. Too bright, this early in the morning.

Advair pen

Advair pen. Nothing really special.

Toprol card

It's the weekend, time for yet another update to the world of Drug Rep Toys Blog©. Starting off this Saturday, we have the Toprol doctor's card. Toprol, by the way, lowers your heart rate, something that knife probably wouldn't do if it were peeking out of your doctor's pocket.

Lotrel pen

VFend pen

This one is just obnoxious, big, clunky, and inelegant.

Namenda placemarkers

One of the more ironic drug products out there. Namenda is used in Alzheimer's disease, so they advertise with, yes, stickers to remember your place in a book.

Vytorin pen

Vytorin makes great pens. There are at least two types, and it is tough to pick a favorite. This one has two tips, one black and the other red, I guess a play on the fact that Vytorin is a combination drug, with Zetia and Zocor in one pill.

Viagra pen

You knew it was coming, the infamous Viagra pen. Unfortunately, there are multiple types of this drug's pen, and some aren't as good as others. Apparently the first pens this drug was advertised with were very nice. This version is pretty lightweight, and though it writes ok, it doesn't live up to the legend.

Levaquin pen

This pen is pretty lightweight, but it writes pretty well. I have collegues who consider it their favorite.

Zetia Calipers

These are cool. They even come in a special box, for prominent display on a shelf, I guess. Also, just like with the Coreg calipers below, you can fit the top piece back into the handle to hold it. So much fun. It looks a little like an alien spaceship in that configuration though.

Wellbutrin XL pen

This is one of the few lightweight pens that I like. Maybe it's the pleasant Ikea like color scheme. Maybe it's the firm, but non-stick grip. Maybe it's the fact that Wellbutrin is an anti-depressant. I don't know.

Levemir and Lovenox pens

Same pen, different companies. They do this because the pen is great. Just a standard ball point, but hey, I'll bet there are more of them than there are people in China. 5 billion pieces of plastic can't be wrong!

Spiriva pen

Nice to hold, but really bad ink. If I actually cared, I'd change out the cartridge. I don't care that much.

Namenda pen

Coreg calipers

This is the coolest calipers ever. It even comes with an Allen wrench for adjusting the tension. So much fun.

Maxipime scissors

This is a great little scissors. Though I don't need them for bandages, they get a workout around the house.

Avandia pen

Plavix pen

I like this pen. It's easy to hold, doesn't skip, not too light, with a nice grip that isn't too squishy. The only downside is tough to describe. I feel like it rolls too quickly, that there isn't enough resistance on the rollerball.

Zometa pen

This is not a great pen. It is far too lightweight and thin for my liking. Perhaps this is intentional, as the drug is intended to stop hypercalcemia of malignancy, which usually results directly from bone loss. Still, if Novartis wants me to carry a catchy reminder of their product, they'll have to try harder. Still, the clip is distinctive, and the color stands out in a pleasant way.

Micardis pen

This is actually a pretty good pen. The way it clicks open bothers me a bit, because I end up opening it as I slide it into my pocket, so I get black streaks on my nice white coat. I can't carry this one around the wards anymore.

Diovan penlight

This is a cool little pen light. And it uses replaceable batteries. Such fun.

Cardizem calipers

EKG calipers are wonderful things. They are a badge of sorts, declaring in an instant that "I am an internist." These are quite serviceable.

Levitra Pen

It's probably fitting to start this odd blog with an odd toy. This pen is crap to write with, but that's not really the point. Frankly though, the deliberate, slow way this thing opens is disturbing, given the drug it is advertising.
The way it works is, you push a small button near the tip of the closed pen, and then, the magic happens. Weird.