The drug is becoming unpopular but they’ll do whatever necessary to ensure that its forced down the bloodstreams of humans for years to come.

“Faced with declining sales for Gardasil, the controversial — and so far only — vaccine for prevention of human papillomavirus, Merck & Co. is planning to boost the drug’s visibility during the key back-to-school shopping period beginning this month,” reports Advertising Age. “Merck is participating in vaccination-day events with physicians’ offices, clinics and nursing groups by offering supportive resources such as posters, mailers, consumer material and pocket cards that coincide with the time when kids and young adults typically get physicals before school starts in September.” U.S. and worldwide sales of Gardasil have declined significantly since last year.

On a recent “earnings conference call,” Merck’s executive vice-president of global human health, Ken Frazier, blamed the decrease on “saturation” of the “prime target of girls ages 13 to 18.” So Merck is “firmly committed to achieving greater vaccination rates in the 19-to-26 age group,” said Frazier, even though the vaccine must be administered before the onset of sexual activity to be provide optimal protection. Merck has also asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to approve Gardasil for “use in boys and men ages 9 to 26 to prevent external genital lesions … and for use in women ages 27 to 45.” Merck’s heavy lobbying of states to require Gardasil vaccinations — including through the group Women in Government — has been widely criticized.

Absolutely insane. I hate corporations who are quick to condemn government involvement when it’s on behalf of the people. Yet when it’s for the benefit of the corporation they’re all for it! Give us more money and tax breaks! As for Merck let’s not forget the Vioxx cruelty that they inflicted upon the public.

I  blogged about something similar recently actually. It turns out the the U.S. 1st Circuit of Appeals agrees that this sort of invasion of privacy is not right.

Data-mining companies have no constitutional right to buy prescription data in order to help pharmaceutical companies lobby doctors to prescribe their brand-name drugs, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.

The 3-0 decision by the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals re-instates New Hampshire’s 2006 ban on the commercial use of prescription information which is routinely bought from insurers and pharmacy benefit managers by data mining companies. That information includes the names of the doctor, patient and drug.

Most likely the next step for Big Phrma will be to lobby statehouses to not pass laws similar to that of New Hampshire’s.

PAL member Change to Win challenges CVS

A group of labor unions is launching a campaign that accuses CVS Caremark Corp. of violating patient privacy and improperly pushing doctors to prescribe a costly prescription drug.

CVS who basically purchased Caremark in 2007 doesn’t seem to care about privacy when profit is concerned. The drug that CVS is pushing is Merck’s diabetes drug Januvia. They appear to be pressuring doctors to prescribe this drug.

Januvia is as much as eight times more expensive than many other diabetes treatments, according to a recent study. Some medical experts say patients may not need the drug and may respond just as well to older, cheaper treatments…

CVS and Merck a filthy marriage indeed.