Hey there all!!
Well I noticed that this had not been diaried yet and felt there should be some follow up on this.
OVER THE FLIP !!!
Here's the linky
Merck & Co., bowing to pressure from parents and medical groups, is immediately suspending its lobbying campaign to persuade state legislatures to mandate that adolescent girls get the company's new vaccine against cervical cancer as a requirement for school attendance
So Merck realized that it lobbying states to make this mandatory was a bad idea. Well good. I wonder how much money they have made so far pushing this...well let's see.
Whitehouse Station-based Merck launched Gardasil, the first vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, in June. It protects against the two virus strains that cause 70 percent of cervical cancer and two strains that cause most genital warts.
Sales totaled $235 million through the end of 2006, according to Merck.
Wow, $235 million in 9 months, not bad. Remember though that Texas still has their law about having girls in 6th grade as of 2008 be vaccinated (yes there is an opt out clause).
So I wonder if Merck backed off because the controversy was hurting the sales.
Of course they say:
"Our goal is about cervical cancer prevention and we want to reach as many females as possible with Gardasil," Dr. Richard M. Haupt, Merck's medical director for vaccines, told The Associated Press.
"We're concerned that our role in supporting school requirements is a distraction from that goal, and as such have suspended our lobbying efforts," Haupt said, adding the company will continue providing information about the vaccine if requested by government officials
Merck, If it was education you wanted to offer women you could have run commercials, offered parents information through schools and such instead of trying to get legislatures to make it mandatory. Just a thought.