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You've heard it before, how the pharmaceutical industry has a giant "revolving door" through which corporations and government agencies frequently exchange key employees. That reality was driven home in a huge way today when news broke that Dr. Julie Gerberding, who headed the CDC from 2002 through 2009, landed a top job with Merck, one of the largest drug companies in the world. Her job there? She's the new president of the vaccine division. How convenient. That means the former head of the CDC was very likely cultivating a relationship with Merck all these years, and now comes the big...

[with Joan Robinson, Assistant Editor at the Population Research Institute]On the morning of 2 October 2009, one of us (Joan) joined an audience of mostly health professionals and listened as Dr. Diane Harper, the leading international developer of the HPV vaccines, gave a sales pitch for Gardasil. Gardasil, as you may know, is the new vaccine that is supposed to confer protection against four strains of the sexually transmitted Human Papillomavirus (HPV).Dr. Harper came to the 4th International Public Conference on Vaccination to prove to us the real benefits of Gardasil. Sadly, her own presentation left me (Joan) and others...

I sat at a picnic table listening to various mothers discussing their hectic schedules trying to keep up with teenage daughters, all on the same sports team. When one mother told of squeezing in an appointment that morning to get her daughter the HPV shot that her doctor recommended, the conversation turned to the necessity to "protect" their girls in such troubling times. I stayed quiet, hoping to learn the values guiding these parents' decisions. Predictably, they had not thought through the issues, nor did they know the facts. Those mothers were merely following doctors' recommendations and that of all...

WASHINGTON, July 12 (Reuters) - The United States will spend an another $1 billion for ingredients for an H1N1 vaccination, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said on Sunday. "There'll be another $1 billion worth of orders placed to get the bulk ingredients for an H1N1 vaccination. Congress has agreed with the president that this is the number one priority, keeping Americans safe and secure," Sebelius said on CNN. Sebelius has said plans were on track for a mid-October vaccination program, although it was not certain Americans would be offered the vaccine for the so-called swine flu.

Merck & Co. is buying Schering-Plough Corp. for $41.1 billion in stock and cash in a deal that gives the companies more firepower to compete in a drug industry facing slumping sales, tough generic competition and intense pricing pressures. The deal announced Monday would unite the maker of asthma drug Singulair with the maker of allergy medicine Nasonex and form the world's second-largest prescription drugmaker. Merck and Schering are already partners in a pair of popular cholesterol fighters, Vytorin and Zetia. The latest combination comes only a few weeks after Pfizer Inc. announced it has agreed to pay $68 billion...

Merck is asking federal regulators to expand the use of its human papillomavirus vaccine to boys and young men.The company has asked the FDA to approve the Gardasil vaccine’s use in males ages 9 to 26 years to prevent genital warts and other lesions, CNBC’s Mike Huckman reported. In 2006, the FDA approved giving the vaccine to girls and women of those ages. We talked with a Merck spokeswoman who pointed to studies showing Gardasil’s effectiveness in young males.But the request will likely renew questions about Gardasil’s cost-effectiveness, especially with a price tag of $360 for a three-dose regimen. In...

Note: Merck's separate dose for rubella, Meruvax, uses aborted fetal cell lines and taints the entire MMR II vaccine. The separate doses of Attenuvax (measles) and Mumpsvax (mumps) use chick embryo. Without these separate doses for measles and mumps, there will be no moral alternative for parents! See contact information for Merck below. snip Merck Focusing on Combination Vaccine Manufacturer Stops Sales of Monovalents for Measles, Mumps, Rubella By David Mitchell 12/24/2008 Merck & Co. Inc. has stopped production and sales of its monovalent vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella. The manufacturer instead plans to focus on its combination vaccine,...

Washington, DC -- A leading pro-life group that educates about the vaccines that are based on the cells from babies killed in abortions is worried about a new decision from the pharmaceutical giant Merck. The company has decided to stop producing some vaccines that are not made based on fetal cells from abortions.

We have been spending our days getting all our ducks armed for bear and in a row--all of our anti-Gardasil ducks, that is. From checking my various areas on the internet, to finding moderators to listening to the tragic and painful stories of victims of the Gardasil vaccine, it has been a very busy time for me and my team. Gardasil, as you should know by now, is an HPV vaccine sold by Merc, a vaccine with a flawed marketing campaign targeting young girls. The premise is that the vaccine will protect young girls from cervical cancer, as well as...

Drug giant Merck has been caught red-handed in a scheme to deceive the FDA and the public over the integrity of its scientific studies, say top medical authorities. According to reports that were (amazingly!) published in the Journal of the American Medical Association and detailed in the Washington Post, Merck waged a "campaign of deception" to disguise its in-house study authors as independent scientists working for universities. This scheme made the studies appear independent and unbiased, allowing them to carry more apparent credibility to FDA officials, doctors and other scientists. This fraud was conducted to boost the apparent scientific credibility...

NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of Merck & Co. and Schering-Plough Corp. fell to record lows Monday, as analysts warned new clinical data would cause sales of their blockbuster cholesterol drug Vytorin to fall further. The companies market Vytorin through a joint venture, but earlier this year, partial results from a clinical study showed that it was no more effective at limiting plaque buildup than Merck's Zocor, a drug that is already available in generic form. Full results of that study were released Sunday. Vytorin is a combination of Zocor and Schering-Plough's drug Zetia. Schering-Plough shares plunged as low as...

WASHINGTON - The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday it is investigating a possible link between Merck’s best-selling asthma drug, Singulair, and suicide. FDA said it is reviewing reports of mood changes, suicidal behavior and suicide in patients who have taken the popular drug also used for allergies. Merck has updated the drug’s labeling four times in the past year to include information on a range of side effects: tremors, anxiousness, depression and suicidal behavior.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- The drugmaker Merck says more than 44,000 people have signed up for part of a $4.85 billion settlement over the withdrawn painkiller Vioxx. Merck & Company said Monday those enrollment figures indicate that the settlement is on track to proceed. Merck says that of the roughly 47,000 people who registered for the settlement, more than 44,000 have submitted all or some of the paperwork necessary for enrollment in the deal. People who had enrolled in the settlement by this past Friday are eligible to receive an interim payment later this year. Merck has said it will...

ATLANTA (AP) — The sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer in women is poised to become one of the leading causes of oral cancer in men, according to a new study. The HPV virus now causes as many cancers of the upper throat as tobacco and alcohol, probably due both to an increase in oral sex and the decline in smoking, researchers say. The only available vaccine against HPV, made by Merck & Co. Inc., is currently given only to girls and young women. But Merck plans this year to ask government permission to offer the shot to boys....

ATLANTA (AP) — Merck & Co. is recalling about a million doses of a childhood vaccine, after testing showed a sterilization problem in a Pennsylvania factory.

The Vioxx Settlement - A Lesson in Corporate Risk Management Written by Rick Vassar Published November 12, 2007 On November 9, 2007, Merck announced that it was settling approximately 27,000 lawsuits arising from the sale and distribution of Vioxx. At the time it was approved by the FDA in May 1999, Vioxx, a Cox-2 inhibitor, was hailed as a breakthrough in pain management. The data that indicated that Vioxx led to an increased chance of heart attack and stroke was evident from the start. As early as April 2000, the FDA expressed concern, and it pressed Merck to add warnings...

Parents believe they have the right to decide what medical treatments are best for their children. But state lawmakers think otherwise because of a disease that has become both a feminist and a public health cause celebre. Across America lawmakers want to compel young girls to be inoculated against human papillomavirus (HPV) years before most become sexually active because there is a chance it can cause cervical cancer. Is replacing parental judgment with mandates by lawmakers and courts good for society?...... Legislators in at least 41 states and the District of Columbia have introduced legislation to require, fund or educate...

EIGHT deaths have been linked to the cervical cancer jab which will be given to every 12-year-old girl in Britain under Government plans announced last week. Doctors suspect the jab, which protects against a sexually transmitted human papilloma virus that causes the cancer, may be implicated in 3,461 adverse reactions, including paralysis and seizures. Last week Health Secretary Alan Johnson revealed plans to vaccinate all girls aged between 12 and 13 to cut Britain’s death rate from the disease. He said: “Prevention is better than cure and this vaccine will prevent many women from catching the virus in the first...

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Apple Inc.'s fiscal fourth-quarter profit jumped 67 percent and easily beat Wall Street expectations, capping a record-breaking year that saw unprecedented momentum in its Mac business, ceaseless consumer interest in its iPod players and a successful introduction of its newest endeavor, the iPhone. For the three months ended Sept. 30, Apple said Monday it earned $904 million, or $1.01 per share, compared with $542 million, or 62 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue totaled $6.22 billion, compared with $4.84 billion in the same quarter last year. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were expecting...

Merck & Co. said Friday the Food and Drug Administration approved its Isentress twice-daily tablets as a treatment for patients who have strains of the HIV virus resistant to multiple antiretroviral drugs. Isentress is the first of a new class of antiretroviral drugs called integrase inhibitors, which work to prevent the virus from inserting its DNA into human DNA, thereby stunting its ability to replicate and infect new cells. Drugs currently on the market inhibit two other enzymes critical to the HIV replication process -- protease and reverse transcriptase -- but Merck says Isentress is the only approved treatment which...

A much-heralded H.I.V. vaccine has failed to work in a large clinical trial, dealing another serious setback to efforts to stop the AIDS epidemic. The vaccine’s developer, Merck, said yesterday that it had halted test vaccinations after the vaccine failed to prevent infection or reduce the severity of infection among volunteers who became infected during the trial. The trial was closely watched because experts considered the vaccine one of most promising to be tested on people so far. This was also the first of a new class of H.I.V. vaccine to get this far in clinical trials. The failure of...

A promising experimental vaccine to prevent the AIDS virus has failed in a crucial experiment, with volunteers becoming infected with HIV anyway, leading the drug developer to halt the study.

TORONTO, September 20, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - As Canada, in large part due to aggressive behind the scenes lobbying, rolls out the not-comprehensively-tested Merck HPV vaccine for girls as young as nine, a look at developments on the vaccine south of the border should cause Canadians serious concern.  In the United States a similar lobby campaign by the same company launched the mass HPV vaccination of girls beginning in June last year.  In just little over a year, the HPV vaccine have been associated with at least five deaths, not to mention thousands of reports of adverse effects, hundreds deemed...

Merck Study Shows Partial Protection Against Additional Cancer-Causing Strains A study by the company that makes Gardasil, a vaccine that protects against cervical cancer, suggests it may be even more effective than previously thought. The vaccine, manufactured by Merck, had previously been thought to only protect against 70 percent of cervical cancer caused by viruses. However, the new research indicates that it may also have at least some effect against viral strains that cause the other 30 percent. The new data was presented this week by Merck at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. The finding was an...

Seeking to recoup tens of millions spent by government-financed health programs on prescriptions for Vioxx, New York State and New York City joined yesterday in filing a lawsuit against Merck, the drug’s maker, which withdrew the painkiller from the market in 2004 because of dangerous side effects. The lawsuit, filed yesterday in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, accuses Merck & Company of intentionally concealing the dangers of Vioxx, and therefore defrauding the state Medicaid program, which paid for the prescriptions. The drug was used to treat arthritis and migraines but led to a high risk of heart attacks and strokes....

VIENNA (Reuters) - Merck & Co's (NYSE:MRK - News) combination pill to raise "good" HDL cholesterol with less facial flushing -- a common side effect of HDL drugs -- met its main goals in a late-stage test, researchers said on Sunday. Merck believes the favorable results should sway patients, who now shun HDL-boosting drugs because of bothersome flushing, to stick with treatment that may cut their risk of heart attacks and other cardiovascular problems. Analysts reckon that could make Cordaptive, which may get to market in 2008, an eventual multibillion-dollar-a-year seller. But Steven Nissen, a top U.S. cardiologist at the...

Controversy continues to plague efforts to protect young women against cervical cancer by vaccinating them against HPV, the human papillomavirus, but one leading scientist's discovery could throw a monkey wrench into the debate. "We found HPV under the fingernails of young men," said Dr. Laura Koutsky, a University of Washington epidemiologist. Koutsky led some of the pioneering research and clinical trials that resulted in an HPV vaccine, Merck's Gardasil, recently approved for use in girls and young women. The reason her fingernail finding is a potential bombshell has to do with why the vaccine is controversial. HPV, which is the...

Ontario Says HPV Vaccination Program to Wait on Medical Report By Hilary White TORONTO, July 24, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Ontario government has told the Toronto Board Of Health that plans to vaccinate all Ontario women and girls between the ages of 9 and 26 for HPV will have to wait on a report from medical experts later this year. In February this year, the federal government announced its plan to vaccinate women and girls across the country and has pledged $300 million for the project. The vaccination of children as young as nine was recommended by the National Advisory...

Amendment Keeps Taxpayers from Funding Mandatory HPV Vaccines The U.S. House passed an amendment Wednesday that will keep the government from funding mandatory vaccination against the human papillomavirus (HPV).Republican Reps. Phil Gingrey of Georgia and Jim Jordan of Ohio introduced the amendment following efforts across the country to require young girls to receive the vaccine to attend school. Merck & Co.’s Gardasil vaccine protects against the four most common strains of HPV, a sexually transmitted infection. Focus on the Family Action supports widespread availability of the vaccine, but holds that parents should make the decision of whether their daughters are...

Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean that no one is out to get you. With these words, I will relate a story about what is going on in the United States regarding those who wish to control the lives of our young people and the future generations of our nation... In 1985, Planned Parenthood people were among the participants in an exercise that produced a document called Inventing the Future: Alternatives to Adolescent Pregnancy. The document was the result of creative thinking on the part of the participants on how they would want things to operate in the future. It...

Hubby went to WalMart in Pennsylvania today. At the main entrance is a Gardasil booth handing out pamphlets. There was a line of parents so Hubby started a rant. He asked the woman why not just teach your daughters to keep their knickers on? Her answer was because they won't. Hubby responded that our daughter is in her 20's and still a virgin. She responded that daughters lie. He offered to let our "female tiger" talk to her. At that point the woman asked if he was on his cellphone. He said "Yes" And how about this not being tested...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A U.S. judge in New Orleans threw out a Vioxx victory for Merck, citing misrepresentation by a key company witness and clearing the way for a third trial in the case of a widow who charges that the painkiller caused her husband's fatal heart attack. ADVERTISEMENT U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon on Tuesday granted Evelyn Irvin Plunkett's motion for a new trial and vacated a jury judgment in favor of Merck (NYSE:MRK - News) "due to a misrepresentation by one of Merck's primary witnesses that prevented Ms. Plunkett from fully and fairly presenting her case." Fallon,...

At least three deaths and more than 1,600 adverse reactions including spontaneous abortion and paralysis have been connected to Merck & Co.'s new vaccine for the human papilloma virus, a treatment the company has lobbied state lawmakers to make mandatory for young girls across the nation. The report comes from Judicial Watch, the Washington-based public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption.   "The FDA adverse event reports on the HPV vaccine read like a catalog of horrors," said Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch president. "Any state or local government now beset by Merck's lobbying campaigns to mandate this HPV vaccine...

Judicial Watch Uncovers Three Deaths Relating to HPV Vaccine Event Reports Obtained from FDA Detail 1,637 Adverse Reactions to HPV Vaccination Gardasil WASHINGTON, May 23, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today released documents obtained from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, detailing 1,637 reports of adverse reactions to the vaccination for human papillomavirus (HPV), Gardasil. Three deaths were related to the vaccine. One physician's assistant reported that a female patient "died of a blood clot three hours after getting the...

Plans to vaccinate young girls against the sexually-transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer have been blocked in several US states by conservative groups, who say that doing so would encourage promiscuity. Advocates of the vaccine point out that the jabs work against human papillomavirus (HPV) - which causes virtually all cases of cervical cancer - and are safe. The latest data from a large clinical trial of Merck's cervical cancer vaccine, Gardasil, found it offered 100% protection against cervical, vulval and vaginal diseases, caused by HPV (types 6, 11, 16 and 18) and 98% protection against advanced pre-cancers caused by...

It has always been my understanding that the manufacture, sale, and distribution of prescription pharmaceuticals is and always has been tightly controlled by the federal government to protect the ultimate consumer from harm. Although there may be side effects, these medications are intended to make you better. If we begin to doubt the things of which we are absolutely sure, it raises many questions. In fact, there is a very real possibility that some of the medications you are taking are making you sicker than the illness you are treating. Yet, very few of us question the purity of our...

AUSTIN — The Senate Monday passed a bill overturning Gov. Rick Perry's order that middle-school girls be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted virus linked to cervical cancer, with a requirement that the issue be reviewed in four years. After a brief debate, the Senate voted 30-1, with Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, D-San Antonio, casting the lone "no" vote. The bill would prevent the HPV vaccine from being required for school enrollment until 2011. The version passed by the House has no expiration date. Sen. Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, who is sponsoring House Bill 1098 in the Senate, said the bill...

Merck & Co Inc.'s successor to the recalled pain reliever Vioxx should not be approved, a U.S. advisory panel ruled on Thursday. The Food and Drug Administration's panel of outside experts voted 20-1 against recommending clearance for the drug, called Arcoxia. The agency is not required to follow panel recommendations but usually does. Merck said it expects a final FDA decision on Arcoxia by month's end. The company had argued Arcoxia was as safe as other pain relievers on the market and would be a valuable alternative for arthritis patients who do not respond well to current options. Panel members,...

A week ago today, Texas became the first state to require school-age girls to be vaccinated against a sexually transmitted virus that has been shown to cause cervical cancer. Governor Rick Perry inked an executive order mandating that most girls, starting in September 2008, get the vaccination against the human papillomavirus (HPV) before entering sixth grade. The highly-publicized move spurred two New Jersey lawmakers to respond. Assemblymen Mike Doherty and Rick Merkt have introduced legislation that would preclude the government from dictating that children enrolled in schools receive vaccinations against the objections of their parents. In Texas young girls, some...

Homosexual men are requesting a controversial "sex disease" vaccine designed to prevent a female cancer. Gardasil protects against the most common of sexually transmitted infections, human papillomavirus (HPV), which can cause cervical cancer. But HPV also causes genital warts and anal and penile cancer, and men argue the jab would guard against these. Many private clinics are offering it to men. One in London says it has immunised dozens in the last six weeks. Controversy Gardasil has been causing controversy since it was launched in the UK late last year, mainly because it is designed to be given to children...

Cervical Cancer Vaccine Maker Had Been Pushing For Mandate (AP) AUSTIN, Texas Gov. Rick Perry's chief of staff met with key aides about a new vaccine to prevent cervical cancer on the same day its manufacturer donated money to his campaign, documents obtained by The Associated Press show. Texas became the first state to require the vaccine against human papillomavirus earlier this month when Perry issued an executive order requiring it for girls entering sixth grade. Lawmakers are considering overriding the measure. A calendar for chief of staff Deirdre Delisi obtained under Texas' open records laws shows she met with...

Today, Merck has decided not to pursue mandatory vaccinations of girls using Gardisal, citing - well nothing really, except they knew they were fighting a losing battle. It makes me wonder how much confidence they had in a drug that was touted as "100% effective" in the prevention in cervical cancer. This brings up a broader point, and that is the state of health care in the United States today. In fact, in most instances, the direction of treatment is dictated by the patient's health insurer and not the doctor. The wisdom and the power does not come from any...

Gardasil isn't exactly an anti-cancer vaccine, but it comes close. It protects girls and women against four sexually transmitted strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV), two of which cause about 70 percent of all cervical cancer. It is also extremely controversial, though the nature of the controversy has changed radically since the treatment was invented. This time last year the issue was whether it would be allowed at all, a matter settled in June when the Food and Drug Administration approved it. Today the question is whether the shots should be required. Nearly half the states have been considering measures...

Schoolgirls in New York would have to get shots against a cancer-causing virus under a bill an assemblywoman will introduce next week, the Daily News has learned. Assemblywoman Amy Paulin (D-Scarsdale) will introduce legislation mandating girls be inoculated with the three-shot series against human papilloma virus, a sexually transmitted disease that causes 70% of cervical cancers. Children whose parents have religious objections to the vaccine, called Gardasil, would be exempt. "This is a revolutionary opportunity to eradicate a disease that kills many, many women. As a mom, I'm grateful my daughter will not have to fear having cervical cancer," said...

Children of God for Life is urging West Virginia lawmakers to scrap HB 2835 mandating Merck's new Gardasil HPV (human papilloma virus) vaccine. Following last week' hotly debated Executive Order by Governor Perry to mandate Gardasil in Texas, West Virginia is the latest of at least two dozen states proposing to add the controversial vaccine as a requirement for school attendance. However, unlike Texas and 48 other states including DC, which have laws allowing parents to opt-out, WVA and Mississippi are the only two States that do not provide religious or philosophical exemptions for vaccines. "It is utterly disgraceful that...

Governor Perry has made a huge mistake in signing an executive order which mandates that all sixth-grade girls entering public schools by the fall of 2008 must be vaccinated for Human Papilloma Virus with Gardasil a product of Merck Pharmaceuticals. A public debate in the Legislature should have preceded such a drastic move, all ……. careful consideration. Parents are being told, "We do not expect nor believe that you will stay abstinent until marriage." The decision to get young girls vaccinated for HPV is not an easy…. In less than a year since approval, 82 cases of serious adverse events...

AUSTIN, Texas - Several key Republicans urged Gov. Rick Perry on Monday to rescind his executive order making Texas the first state to require girls to be vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer. Lawmakers should have been allowed to hear from doctors, scientists and patients before the state implemented such a sweeping mandate, said state Sen. Jane Nelson, chairwoman of the health and human services committee. "This is not an emergency," said Nelson, adding that she plans to ask Attorney General Greg Abbott for an opinion on the legality of Perry's order. "It needs to be...

AUSTIN, Texas - Some conservatives and parents’ rights groups worry that requiring girls to get vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer would condone premarital sex and interfere with the way they raise their children. By using an executive order that bypassed the Legislature, Republican Gov. Rick Perry — himself a conservative — on Friday avoided such opposition, making Texas the first state to mandate that schoolgirls get vaccinated against the virus. Beginning in September 2008, girls entering the sixth grade will have to receive Gardasil, Merck & Co.’s new vaccine against strains of the human papillomavirus,...

~snip~since the CDC's July 2006 universal use recommendation for all young girls, NVIC found reports of loss of consciousness, seizures, joint pain and Guillain-Barre Syndrome. In a separate evaluation of costs for young girls being vaccinated in private pediatrician offices, NVIC discovered that parents living in the Washington, D.C. area will be paying between $500 and $900 to have their daughters receive three doses of GARDASIL."GARDASIL safety appears to have been studied in fewer than 2,000 girls aged 9 to 15 years pre-licensure clinical trials and it is unclear how long they were followed up. VAERS is now receiving reports...

Several key Republicans urged Gov. Rick Perry on Monday to rescind his executive order making Texas the first state to require girls to be vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer. Lawmakers should have been allowed to hear from doctors, scientists and patients before the state implemented such a sweeping mandate, said state Sen. Jane Nelson, chairwoman of the health and human services committee. "This is not an emergency," said Nelson, adding that she plans to ask Attorney General Greg Abbott for an opinion on the legality of Perry's order. "It needs to be discussed and debated."...