Merck Turns To Vaccines To Save The Day

An interesting piece in the Chicago Tribune unveiled Merck's latest plans for turning the embattled drugmaker's fiscal fortunes around with the help of three new vaccines in the FDA regulatory pipeline:

Gardasil, a drug intended to protect women from four kinds of human papillomavirus,
that accounts for the lion's share of cervical cancer cases.
Zostavax, a vaccine for shingles.
Rotateq, an oral remedy for common gastrointestinal illnesses in children.

The company is certainly looking for a home run, considering its well-publicized legal wrangling with patients over the health-harming Vioxx, and Zocor running out of patent protection.

However, what you and many other consumers may not recall -- and what Merck is probably betting on -- is news of a scandal I posted earlier this year involving the mislabeling of hepatitis B vaccines for babies that weren't thimerosal-free.

Chicago Tribune December 14, 2005 Registration Required

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