Re: Merck to Halt Lobbying for Vaccine for Girls
From: art fougner, md (evsono@pipeline.com)
Wed Feb 21 15:25:18 2007
If they're going to market pharmaceuticals directly to the consumer,
they may as well make them over the counter and leave me out.
Art
At Wed, 21 Feb 2007, Dean Huffman . wrote:
>
>..
>
>--
>
>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
>
>Anyway, here is the NY Times article ...
>
>--
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>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.
>
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art fougner, md
"May The Wings of Liberty Never Lose a Feather." - Jack Burton
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