In the wake of the disastrous media coverage now being given to GlaxoSmithKline over its diabetes drug, Avandia, Louise Story of The New York Times has taken a closer look at Glaxo's strategy for selling the drug. It appears that a central pillar of that strategy was pitching the drug extra hard to the African American community. Seems Glaxo was faster and savvier than its competitors to recognize what seems sort of obvious in retrospect: African Americans suffer from Type 2 diabetes at a rate disproportionately high compared with that of the general population, so reaching out to that community could be lucrative for drug manufacturers. Glaxo has been targeting diabetic African Americans in a glossy and carefully crafted ad campaign for some years now.

Della Reese (pictured) was Glaxo's big star for the campaign. Remember Reese? The Touched by an Angel actress and jazz singer was too perfect. Black diabetic? Check! Celebrity status? Check! Grandmotherly yet sassy? Check! Click here to see a sample of the ad literature and images featuring Reese.

The question that industry analysts are now asking is this: will Glaxo's strategy now backfire in the wake of the Avandia scandal? That is, will black diabetics lose trust in the company name over this controversy? Times journalist Story speculates that this could indeed happen; that African Americans have been ill-used before by drug companies and scientists, most famously in the notorious Tuskegee syphilis experiments. Regardless, this is a sector of the market Glaxo can't afford to lose.