COMMENT: Although a staunch believer in freedom of the press and freedom of
speech, I have to admit that I am very disturbed by the way pharmaceutical
companies have been allowed to hawk their wares to the general public in recent
years. Perhaps I am in the minority, but I still feel that there is some place
for the "learned intermediary", i.e., a physician or someone with medical
training, between the pharmaceutical company and the patient. The one that
frosts me the both is the one with Robert Jarvic shilling for Lipitor. Makes me
wonder why he is doing it -- is he not making money in the doctor business any
more so he has to stoop to shilling for Parke-Davis
--
Merck to Halt Lobbying for Vaccine for Girls
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/business/21merck.html?ref=business
NY Times
By ANDREW POLLACK and STEPHANIE SAUL
Published: February 21, 2007
Reacting to a furor from some parents, advocacy groups and public health
experts, Merck said yesterday that it would stop lobbying state legislatures to
require the use of its new cervical cancer vaccine.
The company said it made the decision after realizing that its lobbying campaign
had fueled objections across the country that could undermine adoption of the
vaccine.
At least 20 states are considering making its use mandatory for schoolgirls, and
the governor of Texas, Rick Perry, has already done so by executive order. Part
of the states’ rush to embrace the vaccine has been instigated by Merck efforts
that began before federal regulators approved the product last year.
The vaccine is aimed at a sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical
cancer. Critics of the vaccine on moral and other grounds have used Merck’s
perceived influence as a weapon in fighting the drug’s use. And some public
health officials who favor the vaccine say the movement to make it mandatory
has come too fast.
Merck acknowledged that opinion yesterday, saying it would stop lobbying
specifically for state mandates, many of which would require girls to be
vaccinated before they entered sixth grade.
Dr. Richard M. Haupt, executive director for medical affairs in Merck’s vaccine
division, said the company had acted after hearing from public health officials
and medical organizations that its campaign was counterproductive.
“They believe the timing for the school requirements is not right,” Dr. Haupt
said, adding: “Our goal is to prevent cervical cancer. Our goal is to reach as
many females as possible. Right now, school requirements and Merck’s
involvement in that are being viewed as a distraction to that goal.”
But Dr. Haupt said that Merck would continue to provide health officials and
legislators with education about the vaccine and would continue to lobby for
more financing for vaccines in general.
He declined to say how much money or staff resources Merck had expended in its
efforts to require use of the cervical cancer vaccine.
The vaccine, called Gardasil, acts against strains of the human papillomavirus
that account for an estimated 70 percent of the cases of cervical cancer. The
virus, known as HPV, is transmitted sexually, so experts say the vaccine is
best given before girls become sexually active.
The vaccine, which costs about $400 for the three-shot regimen, was approved by
the Food and Drug Administration in June. Later that month, a federal advisory
panel recommended that females 11 to 26 years old be vaccinated, although
panelists have said that recommendation was not equivalent to recommending
mandatory inoculation.
But the speed with which legislatures have moved to require use of the vaccine
before school entry has galvanized critics. Some say making a vaccine mandatory
would pre-empt parental choice; others contend that protection from a sexually
transmitted virus would encourage promiscuity.
These people were joined by some worried about the influence of pharmaceutical
companies. Merck has been a financial backer of Women in Government, a national
organization of legislators whose members have sponsored some of the state laws
to make the vaccine mandatory.
Yesterday, Dr. Larry K. Pickering, executive secretary of the Advisory Committee
on Immunization Practices, the federal panel that recommended the vaccine’s use
in June, applauded Merck’s decision to stop lobbying. “They finally are going
to stop doing that, which all of us will be happy about,” he said. Dr.
Pickering, who works at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said
that while the vaccine was useful, more data on its safety, effectiveness and
cost was needed.
He said the objections to the vaccine could undermine its use. “I think it has
been somewhat counterproductive. Anything that takes away from the process of
getting vaccine into people is deleterious to the whole process.”
Debbie Halvorson, the Democratic majority leader of the Illinois State Senate,
who had a hysterectomy as a result of the human papillomavirus, is the sponsor
of legislation to make the vaccine mandatory. She said she would continue to
press for the bill, but that it was a good idea on Merck’s part to stop
lobbying.
“If the people out there are thinking that Merck is doing all this, and pushing
our buttons, they need to just step away,” she said. “The fact that I’m doing
what I’m doing has nothing to do with Merck.”
--
Financial Officer to Retire
TRENTON, Feb. 20 (AP) — Merck’s longtime chief financial officer plans to retire
in July now that the company has regained its footing, the drug maker said
Tuesday. The executive, Judy C. Lewent, 58, has been chief financial officer
for 17 years. She was a crucial participant in Merck’s corporate overhaul begun
late in 2005.
