Merck & Co., plagued by lawsuits over its drug Vioxx, and recently accused of tampering with that drug's safety data, is desperately looking for new blockbuster products. One place they are conducting their search is in the largely overlooked market for vaccines.
Three New Vaccines
Merck hopes to turn its fiscal fortunes around with the help of three new vaccines in the FDA regulatory pipeline:
- Gardasil, a drug intended to protect women from four kinds of human papillomavirus that accounts for the lion's share of cervical cancer cases
- Zostavax, a vaccine for shingles
- Rotateq, an oral remedy for common gastrointestinal illnesses in children
Gardasil
Gardasil is the biggest potential sales generator of the new products, especially if U.S. health officials put the vaccine on lists that recommend *** and adolescent immunization schedules. Such lists are often used by state and local governments to mandate vaccinations before school admission.
However, some conservative groups have opposed making Gardasil mandatory, even though doing so could help prevent an estimated 500,000 annual worldwide cases of cervical cancer, on the grounds that it could inadvertently promote teenage promiscuity.
Good Publicity
Few companies traditionally put money into vaccine production, because there are low profit margins and high product liability risk. Merck, however, needs to improve its public image as well as its bottom line, and vaccines often generate good publicity.
