It is not hard to hear about Gardasil…
“In television advertisements, a cast of hip people in their 20s — artists, writers and professionals — describe why they got the shots, in the language of liberation, such as, “I chose to get vaccinated because my dreams don’t include cervical cancer.” The advertisements direct viewers to gardasil.com, which includes patients’ stories, buddy icons and downloads for holding an event at sororities.
Girls of any age who have had one dose of the vaccine can ask for text-message “reminders” from Merck to get the next two shots. The offers come with another reminder: “I understand that the information I provide will be used by Merck or those working on behalf of Merck for market research purposes.”
For such efforts, Merck last May swept the 2008 Pharmaceutical Advertising and Marketing Excellence awards, and Gardasil was named Brand of the Year by Pharmaceutical Executive magazine.
The marketing helped make Gardasil one of Merck’s best sellers, with a projected sales of $1.4 billion to $1.6 billion outside Europe this year, and more from sales in Europe, where Merck sells the vaccine through a joint venture with Sanofi Aventis.
Aggressive pharmaceutical advertising is nothing new, but the campaign was a revolution for a vaccine. Vaccines were traditionally the orphans of the pharmaceutical world because they were cheap and not particularly profitable. But the two for cervical cancer are the latest in a wave of high-priced vaccines that have come to market since 2001, opening a lucrative new field.”
Excerpted from:: THE EVIDENCE GAP; Drug Makers’ Push Leads to Cancer Vaccines’ Rise
August 20, 2008 – By ELISABETH ROSENTHAL (NYT) – Front Page –
… DRUG MAKERS’ BIG PUSH A marketing campaign in the United States and Europe by Merck has made Gardasil, its cervical cancer vaccine, a best seller. Cervarix, a similar vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline, has also proved popular, and profitable.
Read the full article and send the link out to anyone who cares about the health issues of women and girls!
Inconvenient Women do not get angry…We get ACTIVE!!
The marketeer/lobbyist/legislator ‘hook-up’ only works if no one is looking. Make sure your representatives know you are watching them and are holding them accountable for the health and wellfare of the nations’ women and girls.
