1. Best-case scenario: high-school kids are imparted with some basic knowledge of drugs. I think they'll understand Pharmacology 101 just fine. This will raise the quality of journalism too because (a.) journalists are better educated to seek out such news and (b.) there is a wider demand for news of greater technical depth. I speculate that UL-like companies will spring up to meet consumer demand.
2. In the present world, I'd be happy with a blog/journal that keeps an eye on pharmaceuticals. Drug Watch[1], for example, focus on just big-pharma and lawsuits. They come off a bit like ambulance chasers. FDA has several feeds [2], but the volume of information is rather high. So, a service that sends out targeted emails would be just fine. So, a user would select a bunch of ailments and drugs, and this service would send emails when there is ab update on any of those. That way, users of lipitor would get updates on Ranbaxy's antics too.
[2] http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/ContactFDA/StayInformed/RSSFeeds...