Gardasil Could Continue to Be Tough Sell for Merck - Pharmaceuticals * US * News * Story

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Gardasil Could Continue to Be Tough Sell for Merck

Topics:Pharmaceuticals

Sectors:Pharmaceuticals | Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology

Companies:GlaxoSmithKline plc | Merck & Co Inc

By: CNBC.com | 06 Aug 2009 | 12:09 AM ET

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A new survey of doctors may show why drugmaker Merck could be having a tough time growing sales of its controversial vaccine for sexually transmitted disease and cervical cancer.

CNBC.com
The results being published in a medical journal shows that slightly more than half of 1,122 Texas physicians don't always recommend their eligible patients get Gardasil.

The vaccine has been especially controversial in Texas where the Governor tried to mandate that certain school-age girls get the expensive series of three shots before the legislature put a stop to it.

Sales of Gardasil fell 18 percent in the second quarter. The head of Merck's vaccine business, 49-year-old Margie McGlynn, just announced her retirement.

Merck [MRK Loading... () ] is waiting for the FDA to approve the vaccine for young males and GlaxoSmithKline [GSK Loading... () ] is still waiting for the agency to approve its competitor vaccine, Cervarix, for females.