Last Sunday a panel of cardiologists told more than 5,000 people that high cholesterol patients shouldn’t take Vytorin and Zetia except as a last resort. Made by Merck and Schering-Plough, these widely prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs are taken by about four million Americans.

Can one person take on the monolithic FDA and get it to actually do something about drug safety? You bet – especially when that person is backed by 56,000 voices.

Across the Atlantic, the folks over at Social Audit cooked up a neat idea: they invited people to submit a 350-word argument on “Pharmageddon” and heard from both patients and professionals.