Reese Witherspoon is doing drugs. Ok, they're the prescription kind and she's not actually doing them, but she will be appearing as a pharmaceutical exec in the Universal comedy Pharm Girl so there is kind of a drugs link there.

Although it's billed as an 'aspiration comedy', Pharm Girl is being scripted and possibly directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, the dark minds that brought us Bad Santa, so it's safe to expect at least a dose of bile in the story of a woman's journey through the underbelly of the drugs industry.

The pharmaceutical industry is shaping up to be Hollywood's bad guy of the month, stepping into the breach usually filled with Nazis and dastardly English types with twiddly moustaches. The Ed Zwick-helmed Love And Other Drugs will also put the boot into big pharma, albeit in a similarly comically-toned way.

Behind Witherspoon's perky persona and Southern charm lies some serious smarts: she rarely picks a loser (leaving aside the giant turkey that was Four Christmases) and her regular forays into comedy have produced some box-office monsters. She'll also produce Pharm Girl under her Type A banner.

Witherspoon meanwhile has an increasingly crowded slate and is continuing to focus on comedy roles. She's producing and starring in black comedy Nice, has James L. Brooks' so-far untitled project to look forward to and is in talks to star with Ben Stiller in Fox's futuristic comedy Used Guys.