Gulf War syndrome is legit and 175,000 US veterans of the first Gulf War suffer its effects.

That’s the conclusion of the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans’ Illnesses, a group of scientists and veterans appointed in 2002 by Congress to evaluate the cornucopia of neurological and other symptoms that have struck our soldiers in the years since the war.

Several earlier studies concluded that combat stress had caused the syndrome.

“Scientific evidence leaves no question that Gulf War illness is a real condition with real causes and serious consequences for affected veterans,” committee spokespeople told Reuters.

The committee added that Congress should increase research funding on Gulf War syndrome to $60 million per year.

“This is a national obligation, made especially urgent by the many years that Gulf War veterans have waited for answers and assistance,” the committee said.

The veterans that contracted Gulf War syndrome represent one quarter of all US troops that served in the effort to repel Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. The most common symptoms include diffuse pain, memory and concentration problems, fatigue, headaches, diarrhea, skin rashes and respiratory difficulties. Few vets report that their symptoms have improved since initial onset.

“Today’s report brings to a close one of the darkest chapters of the 1991 Gulf War, and that is the legacy of Gulf War illness. For those who ever doubted that Gulf War veterans are ill, this report is definitive and exhaustive,” said Anthony Hardie, who was a 23-year-old sergeant during the war.

The panel was unable to determine what causes the syndrome, but it suggested the 2 most likely factors were pyridostigmine, a drug given to the troops to protect against nerve gas, and pesticides that were used against sand flies and other bugs during the war.

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg wants his company to focus on growing user base rather than revenues, but former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey will attest that strategy doesn’t always work even in good times and these aren’t good times.

And no matter what the 24 year-old may say publicly, Zuckerberg and his COO and new BFF Sheryl Sandberg know the time has come to focus on revenue and prove once and for all their business deserves its astronomical valuation.

If they can, that is.

It’s not like Facebook hasn’t tried already. The Palo Alto-based company claims for example that in the last 2 years, 70 of the top 100 US advertisers have run ads on its site. But according to comScore, that has translated into a modest 1.1% share of US online display ad views.

By contrast, News Corp.’s Fox Interactive Media Unit, which owns MySpace, captured 15.9% of display-ad views in the same period.

So now Facebook is introducing a new revenue scheme called “engagement ads.” These things appear on the main log-on screen and encourage users to do something on the ad, like commenting on a TV show trailer or adding movies to a favorites list.

Completed actions are then shared with friends along with the implied recommendation.

The scheme may or may not work, but when Nashville resident Heather Watson came across an engagement ad for Bravo TV’s “Project Runway,” she clicked “not attending” which erased the ad from view. These ads “detract from the [Facebook] experience,” she scoffed to the Wall Street Journal.

And the Great Economic Crisis of 2008 isn’t going to help Facebook any. eMarketer predicts in fact that ad growth on the Internet will drop from 17% this year to 14.5% on 2009, and social-networking site ads are likely to be hit hardest because there’s no good way to assess effectiveness of these ads.

Cephalon has a great story. Founded 20 years ago, the Frazer, Pennsylvania-based biotech start-up has grown to become one of the top ten biopharmaceutical companies in the world. It has 9 products on the US market, a reputation for creativity, a prodigious pipeline, and revenues exceeding $1.4 billion.

And now that Provigil—the drug responsible for half its revenue is due to lose patent protection in 4 years—Cephalon has begun the next chapter in its story.

We’ve heard this one before. It’s about pricing schemes that wring every red cent out of Provigil and its long-acting offspring, Nuvigil.

Provigil has FDA approval for narcolepsy, obstructive sleep apnea and shift-work sleep disorder. It has also become a popular lifestyle drug that people use to stay sharp at work or wherever.

Twice already this year, Cephalon jacked-up the price of Provigil. It now costs 28% more than it did this spring and 74% more than 4 years ago.

It has done so in anticipation of the spring, 2009 launch of Nuvigil, which had received FDA approval 2 years ago but was shelved by Cephalon as part of its now-unfolding revenue-maximization strategy.

See, Nuvigil will come out cheaper than the now jacked Provigil, so everyone will switch to the new product which enjoys patent protection until 2023. Then, when the generics hit the market, patients and physicians will not be inclined to switch from the convenient long-acting drug to the short-acting generic.

Cephalon talks openly about its perfectly legal scheme. Its VP of investor relations Chip Merritt recently told those attending a conference last month, “you should expect that we will…raise Provigil prices to…create an incentive for the reimbursers to preferentially move to Nuvigil.”

Most insured patients taking Provigil for FDA-approved uses won’t be directly impacted by the price increase, but those who take the stuff for recreational purposes may be left out to dry.

That’s when we learn about price-elasticity for a wakefulness drug that you can’t order with extra foam, whipped cream and caramel drizzle.