Going for the Throat: Hyping HPV Vaccine for Young Boys

Going for the Throat: Hyping HPV Vaccine for Young Boys
http://vaccineawakening.blogspot.com...ccine-for.html

"Gardasil may generate more than $3 billion in annual sales for
Whitehouse Station, New Jersey- based Merck, analysts say. The best
way to reduce cancer-causing HPV is to widen the pool of children
vaccinated with Gardasil, the researchers say. Merck is studying the
shot in boys and plans to seek U.S. approval for that use, said
spokeswoman Kelly Dougherty. ``We would encourage industry and
scientists to study the efficacy in boys and men so the vaccination
program can be expanded,'' said Erich Sturgis, associate professor of
head and neck surgery at M.D. Anderson and the report's lead author,
in an interview..... ``Changing sexual practices such as more frequent
oral sex in adolescents and young adults could contribute to an
increase in oncogenic HPV- associated oropharyngeal cancers,''
researchers said in the report. Tonsil cancers have increased 4
percent and tongue cancers 2 percent a year in the past 30 years among
adults younger than 45, according to studies cited in the review. Many
of the cancers were among non-smokers, which points to HPV as the
culprit behind the rise in the cancers, M.D. Anderson researchers
said.....Approved in June 2006, Gardasil generated $723 million in
sales during the first half of this year. Head and neck cancers are
the latest malignancies tied to HPV infection generating attention
from health experts that would like to see broader use of the Merck
vaccine." - Angela Zimm, Bloomberg News (August 27, 2007)

"Almost all cervical cancers are caused by the sexually transmitted
human papillomavirus, or HPV. Merck's Gardasil targets strains
responsible for 70 percent to 80 percent of these cancers. Vaccinating
girls before they are sexually active is useful because it can prevent
infection from developing into cancer later in life. Mandating the
shot may ensure wider use. ``Effective education programs and
mandatory vaccination will probably provide the greatest and fastest
reduction in the incidence of cervical cancer,'' Hopkins scientists
Richard Roden and T.C. Wu wrote in the scientific journal Nature
Reviews Cancer, published on line today..... The Hopkins scientists
join a growing number of health and government experts calling for
mandated HPV vaccination programs....``If you want to have a
significant reduction, making the vaccine mandatory would generate the
better impact,'' co-author Wu, a professor of pathology at Hopkins,
said in an interview....." - Angela Zimm, Bloomberg News (September
26, 2006)

"It is worth noting that HPV vaccine trials have demonstrated only
protection against HPV- related genital pre-cancers, not cancer. Is
spending public money on HPV vaccination of all girls and young women
appropriate, when cash-strapped communities could put the funds to
other uses? This may be the most difficult question of all. It leads
immediately to another question: Does Merck need to charge $360 per
person for the vaccine as it does now? According to Glenn McGee of
Albany Medical College, Merck could recoup in several years its
development costs for this and other vaccines that never made it to
market by charging one-tenth the current price (assuming that sales
continue at the current rate). Merck says it calculated the price
taking into account research and development costs as well as what the
vaccine could save in terms of HPV-related treatment expenses. It
argues that the long-term cost savings justify the unusually high
price for this vaccine. Other analyses (for example, a British
Columbia Cancer Agency report) disagree with these calculations and
conclude that the cost of vaccination greatly outweighs the amount
saved by avoiding treatment of HPV-related disease. As we consider how
to proceed on HPV vaccination, a clear understanding of the research
-- not marketing claims or lobbying funds -- needs to guide both our
individual decisions and our public policy." - Judy Norsigian and
Heather Stephenson, Women's E-News (September 7, 2007)

Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:

If vaccine manufacturers can't generate the profits they promised
stockholders by persuading state legislators to mandate a newly
licensed vaccine, then they will find another way to bring in the
money. In this case, Merck and the doctors in academia and research,
who are developing and promoting widespread use of HPV vaccines, are
going after the young boy market following a failure this year to get
HPV vaccine mandated for pre-teen girls in every state.

Almost exactly one year ago, scientists developing HPV vaccines at
Johns Hopkins and elsewhere were joining with doctors in calling for
mandatory vaccination of all young girls with Merck's newly licensed
HPV vaccine, Gardasil. But the push for mandated use of Gardasil by
all 11 year old girls was rejected by states due to parent protests
against mandates after NVIC pointed out lack of scientific data
proving Gardasil safety and efficacy in young girls and other parent
groups protested mandates for a sexually transmitted disease that
could not be acquired in the school setting.

Seeking to capture the numbers that will give them the projected
profits they would have secured if they had succeeded in getting
Gardasil mandated for all 11 year old girls in every state, Merck and
HPV vaccine developers are attempting to widen the pool of vaccine
candidates by alleging that more teens today are engaging in oral sex
and that is why there has been an increase in HPV-associated cancers
of the tongue, tonsils and throat in boys. This, say scientists at the
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, is reason enough to call for universal
HPV vaccination of all young boys.

The call for all young boys to get a vaccine that was developed to
prevent cervical cancer in women will help Merck out in its quest for
the $3 billion dollar annual market it dreamed of when it tried to get
the vaccine mandated for all young girls. It will also potentially
help secure profits for GlaxoSmithKline when its HPV vaccine,
Cervarix, is licensed. One of the authors of a recent article in
Cancer, which pointed out that oral cancer increases among boys makes
them perfect candidates for HPV vaccination, has been a consultant for
Sanofi-Aventis, GlaxoSmithKline, Xemova and Pfizer.

I remember admiring scientists and doctors when I was growing up in
the 1950's and 1960's. Everyone knew they worked hard to help people
and make the world better even though they were not paid very much
money. Now doctors and scientists are paid a lot of money and they
have assumed positions of power in government, industry and academia,
where they lobby in the media and state legislatures to secure
predictable and lucrative markets for the pharmaceutical products they
create or profit from promoting either directly or indirectly.

It is highly inappropriate for doctors or scientists to lobby for
forced use of vaccines or any other pharmaceutical product. The people
deserve better from the men and women we pay to provide us with wise
and unbiased counsel about making informed health care choices for
ourselves and our children. We should not feel like we need to check
out their stock portfolio or origin of their university's research
grants before deciding whether we should trust their advice or not.

The HPV virus affects men, and well as women. For information on how
- you can visit the links below. Generally men suffer genital warts,
and oral cancers as complications of the HPV virus.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/condi...er.warts.reut/...

http://www.associatedcontent.com/art...ine_from_merck...

http://www.stdsite.com/Warts/index.html




On Sep 16, 6:38 pm, Ilena Rose wrote:
Going for the Throat: Hyping HPV Vaccine for Young Boyshttp://vaccineawakening.blogspot.com/2007/09/going-for-throat-hyping-...

"Gardasil may generate more than $3 billion in annual sales for
Whitehouse Station, New Jersey- based Merck, analysts say. The best
way to reduce cancer-causing HPV is to widen the pool of children
vaccinated with Gardasil, the researchers say. Merck is studying the
shot in boys and plans to seek U.S. approval for that use, said
spokeswoman Kelly Dougherty. ``We would encourage industry and
scientists to study the efficacy in boys and men so the vaccination
program can be expanded,'' said Erich Sturgis, associate professor of
head and neck surgery at M.D. Anderson and the report's lead author,
in an interview..... ``Changing sexual practices such as more frequent
oral sex in adolescents and young adults could contribute to an
increase in oncogenic HPV- associated oropharyngeal cancers,''
researchers said in the report. Tonsil cancers have increased 4
percent and tongue cancers 2 percent a year in the past 30 years among
adults younger than 45, according to studies cited in the review. Many
of the cancers were among non-smokers, which points to HPV as the
culprit behind the rise in the cancers, M.D. Anderson researchers
said.....Approved in June 2006, Gardasil generated $723 million in
sales during the first half of this year. Head and neck cancers are
the latest malignancies tied to HPV infection generating attention
from health experts that would like to see broader use of the Merck
vaccine." - Angela Zimm, Bloomberg News (August 27, 2007)

"Almost all cervical cancers are caused by the sexually transmitted
human papillomavirus, or HPV. Merck's Gardasil targets strains
responsible for 70 percent to 80 percent of these cancers. Vaccinating
girls before they are sexually active is useful because it can prevent
infection from developing into cancer later in life. Mandating the
shot may ensure wider use. ``Effective education programs and
mandatory vaccination will probably provide the greatest and fastest
reduction in the incidence of cervical cancer,'' Hopkins scientists
Richard Roden and T.C. Wu wrote in the scientific journal Nature
Reviews Cancer, published on line today..... The Hopkins scientists
join a growing number of health and government experts calling for
mandated HPV vaccination programs....``If you want to have a
significant reduction, making the vaccine mandatory would generate the
better impact,'' co-author Wu, a professor of pathology at Hopkins,
said in an interview....." - Angela Zimm, Bloomberg News (September
26, 2006)

"It is worth noting that HPV vaccine trials have demonstrated only
protection against HPV- related genital pre-cancers, not cancer. Is
spending public money on HPV vaccination of all girls and young women
appropriate, when cash-strapped communities could put the funds to
other uses? This may be the most difficult question of all. It leads
immediately to another question: Does Merck need to charge $360 per
person for the vaccine as it does now? According to Glenn McGee of
Albany Medical College, Merck could recoup in several years its
development costs for this and other vaccines that never made it to
market by charging one-tenth the current price (assuming that sales
continue at the current rate). Merck says it calculated the price
taking into account research and development costs as well as what the
vaccine could save in terms of HPV-related treatment expenses. It
argues that the long-term cost savings justify the unusually high
price for this vaccine. Other analyses (for example, a British
Columbia Cancer Agency report) disagree with these calculations and
conclude that the cost of vaccination greatly outweighs the amount
saved by avoiding treatment of HPV-related disease. As we consider how
to proceed on HPV vaccination, a clear understanding of the research
-- not marketing claims or lobbying funds -- needs to guide both our
individual decisions and our public policy." - Judy Norsigian and
Heather Stephenson, Women's E-News (September 7, 2007)

Barbara Loe Fisher Commentary:

If vaccine manufacturers can't generate the profits they promised
stockholders by persuading state legislators to mandate a newly
licensed vaccine, then they will find another way to bring in the
money. In this case, Merck and the doctors in academia and research,
who are developing and promoting widespread use of HPV vaccines, are
going after the young boy market following a failure this year to get
HPV vaccine mandated for pre-teen girls in every state.

Almost exactly one year ago, scientists developing HPV vaccines at
Johns Hopkins and elsewhere were joining with doctors in calling for
mandatory vaccination of all young girls with Merck's newly licensed
HPV vaccine, Gardasil. But the push for mandated use of Gardasil by
all 11 year old girls was rejected by states due to parent protests
against mandates after NVIC pointed out lack of scientific data
proving Gardasil safety and efficacy in young girls and other parent
groups protested mandates for a sexually transmitted disease that
could not be acquired in the school setting.

Seeking to capture the numbers that will give them the projected
profits they would have secured if they had succeeded in getting
Gardasil mandated for all 11 year old girls in every state, Merck and
HPV vaccine developers are attempting to widen the pool of vaccine
candidates by alleging that more teens today are engaging in oral sex
and that is why there has been an increase in HPV-associated cancers
of the tongue, tonsils and throat in boys. This, say scientists at the
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, is reason enough to call for universal
HPV vaccination of all young boys.

The call for all young boys to get a vaccine that was developed to
prevent cervical cancer in women will help Merck out in its quest for
the $3 billion dollar annual market it dreamed of when it tried to get
the vaccine mandated for all young girls. It will also potentially
help secure profits for GlaxoSmithKline when its HPV vaccine,
Cervarix, is licensed. One of the authors of a recent article in
Cancer, which pointed out that oral cancer increases among boys makes
them perfect candidates for HPV vaccination, has been a consultant for
Sanofi-Aventis, GlaxoSmithKline, Xemova and Pfizer.

I remember admiring scientists and doctors when I was growing up in
the 1950's and 1960's. Everyone knew they worked hard to help people
and make the world better even though they were not paid very much
money. Now doctors and scientists are paid a lot of money and they
have assumed positions of power in government, industry and academia,
where they lobby in the media and state legislatures to secure
predictable and lucrative markets for the pharmaceutical products they
create or profit from promoting either directly or indirectly.

It is highly inappropriate for doctors or scientists to lobby for
forced use of vaccines or any other pharmaceutical product. The people
deserve better from the men and women we pay to provide us with wise
and unbiased counsel about making informed health care choices for
ourselves and our children. We should not feel like we need to check
out their stock portfolio or origin of their university's research
grants before deciding whether we should trust their advice or not.