Besides the unexpected public outcry, there may have been another reason why Merck curtailed its lobbying efforts to make Gardasil mandatory for teens.

The stuff may not even work very well.

From GoozNews:

The Wall Street Journal ran a front-page story today questioning the efficacy of Merck’s new cervical cancer vaccine. The story covers all the key issues: the relative rarity of the disease; how it’s been reduced by 80 percent in the U.S. through Pap smears; and the relatively low 70 percent effectiveness rate of the new vaccine. One key detail new to me: Merck cancelled its lobbying push in the states after consulting with key members of the Centers for Disease Control advisory committee and the American Academy of Pediatrics that had recommended the vaccine. They told the company that it was too soon to make the vaccine mandatory.

The story was also notable in pointing out that all the cost-effectiveness studies arguing that the vaccine would reduce health system costs (fewer Pap tests and fewer cancers down the road versus the multi-billion upfront costs of the vaccine) were funded by the companies that made the vaccine.

From The Washington Post:

Texas lawmakers are fighting to block the governor’s order requiring that sixth-grade girls be vaccinated against the virus that causes cervical cancer, with the House giving key approval to a bill to make the shots strictly voluntary.

Gov. Rick Perry’s executive order has inflamed conservatives who say it contradicts Texas’ abstinence-only sexual education policies and intrudes into family lives. Some critics also have questioned whether the vaccine has been proven safe.

This bill clearly will pass both houses with enough votes to override a Perry veto. In other words, the Gardasil mandate is dead in the water.

I have mixed feelings about this one — because if the mandate is overturned, it will be overturned for the wrong reasons.

For those who believe in democracy and oppose political corruption, the real issue shouldn’t be that the mandate runs counter to conservative views on abstinence. The real issue is that Perry issued an executive order that would provide significant financial benefits to a specific company, Merck – and he did this despite the fact that it would run counter to the views of his political supporters.

Are we REALLY supposed to believe that Perry’s actions were the product of political courage? If you think this deal was about courage and not Big Pharma money, I’ve got a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn.

The Kaiser Family Foundation has an update on other HPV vaccine proposals in California and Washington.

Bloomberg reported last week that Merck & Co. will stop lobbying state officials to require girls receive the Gardasil vaccine:

Merck made the decision after groups including the American Academy of Pediatrics said there wasn’t enough state funding to pay for the $360 vaccine or public acceptance … Texas this month became the first state, among about 20 considering legislation, to require school-aged girls to get the shot. Merck began its campaign for the vaccine among state lawmakers even before it was approved in June 2006.

Merck’s management, along with Wall Street, are banking on Gardasil to be the savior of the company’s depleted pipelines. The drug recorded $155 million in revenues in the fourth quarter of 2006, and is projected to bring up to $3 billion annually into Merck’s coffers.

Unfortunately for Merck, the public finally may be getting tired of Big Pharma’s arrogant power plays.

Although some states are making the HPV vaccination Gardasil mandatory for young girls, those who seek the vaccine in states where it is not provided by the government may have a difficult time finding it at all.

According to howstuffworks, the medical reinbursement system currently in use is failing. Normally doctors purchase a vaccine themselves, then charge the patient’s insurance company for the cost of the medication plus an additional 10 to 17 percent over retail (to cover costs from stocking and administering the medicine). Gardasil, however, is so expensive that some insurance companies are refusing to pay the $171.50 per dose.

Howstuffworks states:

So doctors — pediatricians in particular, who tend to stock the most vaccines of all medical specialists — and insurance companies appear to be in a deadlock. Pediatricians claim they simply can’t afford to stock Gardasil since they’re not getting reimbursed for all of their expenses. For some, stocking the drug would mean operating at a loss or barely breaking even. And most insurance companies, who have been trying to change the biologics-reimbursement situation for years now, are standing their ground at $132 per dose (called “ASP+6,” or “average selling price plus 6 percent”), saying that doctors are demanding over-reimbursement. And in the meantime, many people who can’t afford to shell out up to $400 to get their daughter(s) vaccinated are left running from pediatrician’s office to public health clinic to gynecologist’s office and back again trying to find someone who has Gardasil.

This in the wake of Texas Gov. Rick Perry melodramatically claiming that he “can’t look a young woman in the eye” who contracted cervical cancer because she didn’t have access to Gardasil. If that’s really the case, get off your duff and start fixing our broken healthcare system instead of settling for self-serving photo ops.

I refuse to look a young woman in the eye who suffers from this form of cancer and tell her that we could have stopped it but we didn’t. Others may focus on the cause of this cancer. I stay focused on the cure.

These are the words of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, defending his executive order making Gardasil a mandatory vaccination for young girls going into the sixth grade. Gardasil, produced by Merck, prevents women from contracting HPV, the leading cause of cervical cancer, through sexual contact. Perry’s right-wing base has slammed the governor for requiring the vaccination, because it allegedly strays from Texas’ abstinence-only sex education policy. This — coupled with a $120 per-shot price tag — has many questioning Perry’s motives.

News Hounds points out some of the ties that Perry has with Merck:

Two of Perry’s former chiefs of staff currently work for Merck, and the mother of one of them is involved in lobbying for this … Has Perry just caved in for Merck? … His former c-o-s is being paid $250,000 by Merck to lobby for this, a Texas state legislator (Diane White Delisi) is pushing for it and working with Merck, and her daughter-in-law is the current chief of staff.

I believe that the vaccine is helpful and that girls should receive it. However, Perry’s unilateral approach suggests that he may be pushing a personal agenda. Texas politicos — Republicans and Democrats alike — are urging him to recall the mandate. Republican state senator Kevin Eltife expressed the same thoughts that I have on the matter when he said,

I am not opposed to the state providing funding for those who want the vaccine, but to mandate the vaccine is government interference at its best. This is an issue that should be taken up by the Legislature and fully debated with input from the public. The issue in no way warrants an executive order.

Perry can’t “look a young woman in the eye,” but he can sign an executive order to mandate an unproven medication that’s been on the market for less than a year? His words say he wants what is best for young girls, but his actions say he wants what is best for him.