If you’ve been watching TV lately, you have more than likely seen the HPV Vaccine commercials that seem to run on every channel, on every commercial break. Merck Frosst, the makers of the HPV vaccine, Gardasil, are so interested in their own commercial interests it is difficult to tell whether or not this is a victory for women’s health or a victory of aggressive marketing. Is this a health story, or a business story?
As previously mentioned, Merck Frosst makes the only approved HPV vaccine available, and it has much riding on a successful launch and maitenence of this vaccine. Merck also makes Vioxx, the painkiller that has been withdrawn from the markets because it has been linked to heart attacks and strokes and is facing major legal costs because of these links. Gardasil is estimated to give Merck annual sales of $2 billion U.S. or more by 2010.
In order to create a public enthusiasm for the vaccine, Merck needs to convince daughters, mothers, fathers, and caregivers that this vaccine is a necessity, which is a hurdle in itself given the controversy surrounding the issue. Though, somehow it has succeeded in many ways.
In regards to selling the idea to the public, Sheila Murphy, spokeswoman for Merck, explained how difficult it is for Merck explain Gardasil to the masses: "The fact that a virus causes cancer, in this case anogenital cancers, is a big paradigm shift for many people," she said, adding, "When I started working on the Gardasil team, I didn't know that HPV was the reason I was having a Pap test. We are working with individuals and groups who share our desire to improve the wellness of Canadian women by communicating information on HPV. We are using all the channels of communication open to us to get the message about our cancer-preventing vaccine out."
Is Sheila Murphy implying that Pap tests only test for HPV? Because that is beyond false. As we have already stated, cervical cancer is a rare occurrence in Canada, and we already have a very effective prevention method – Pap tests! In the past five decades, regular Pap testing has contributed to an 80 per cent reduction in cervical-cancer deaths. I highly doubt that these mass methods of communication about HPV and cervical cancer are to improve the wellness of Canadian women; rather, it is for Merck Frosst to bank billions of dollars on our gullibility. My concern is that this hype about HPV and a ‘cervical cancer vaccine’ is going to make young girls and women think that they don’t need to get Pap tests – they still do! Scary thought.
In is interesting to note that in 2006, before the vaccine was even approved, Merck financed information campaigns featuring actresses expressing surprise about the cause of cervical cancer and promising to tell other women (these commercials ran in Canada and the U.S. – the “Tell Someone” campaign). These commercials could not mention the vaccine as it hadn’t been yet approved by the FDA. Merck Frosst has been instilling fear in Canadian’s about HPV for years, so that as soon as their vaccine became available, people would be so worried about their daughters, they would run to get it.
When the FDA finally approved the vaccine in June 2006, a full scale ad campaign began. It hasn’t been difficult for Merck to rely on various doctors and women’s groups to promote the vaccine in Canada, without difficulty. For example, a spokeswoman for the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada told the Citizen that Merck gave the doctors' group a $1.5-million grant to educate people about HPV. This website, (http://www.hpvinfo.ca/) does not mention Merck but serves the purpose of “educating” people about the HPV/cancer link.
In addition to having to convince the public, Merck has also had to convince lawmakers of the vaccine’s importance and value. Just before Flaherty announced funding for the vaccine in the 2007 budget, Merck hired Ken Boessenkool, a former aide to PM Stephen Harper, to lobby the federal government; Boessenkool is employed by Hill & Knowlton, a giant public relations and lobbying firm
In Ontario in 2007, on behalf of Merck, two lobbyists were hired to lobby the provincial health ministers and others on: “the proposed policy decision to support a childhood immunization program for HPV and funding related thereto." Both men work for Hill & Knowlton, and interestingly enough, one of them (Jason Grier) was the former executive assistant to Health Minister George Smitherman.
All in all, Merck Frosst has used the media to its full advantage, not for the advantage of women's health. CWHN warns that “Media and marketing claims about the impact of HPV prevalence are very misleading and the naming of Gardasil as the ‘cervical cancer vaccine,’ implying the vaccine eliminates all cervical cancer, is incorrect. The marketing of Gardasil ... has made it difficult for there to be reflective discussions between parents and children, health care providers and their clients, as well as among the public and policy makers, about the nature and meaning of HPV and of vaccination.”
Page, Shelly. Everything you wanted to know, but were afraid to ask. Ottawa Citizen. April 29, 2007.
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