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Sebelius on Vaccines

24 Nov 2009

Discussing whether a new $487M investment from the government will help speed up the production of the most important vaccines, with Kathy Sebelius, Health & Human Services secretary and CNBC's Mike Huckman.

The New Formula for Faster Vaccines

24 Nov 2009

Novartis is opening on Tuesday the country's first plant to produce flu vaccines using cell cultures. These vaccines are faster, better and cheaper to make than egg-based methods, reports CNBC's Mike Huckman.

Novartis Opens 1st US Plant for Flu Vaccine

24 Nov 2009

Cholesterol Drug Battle: Niaspan vs. Zetia 16 Nov 2009
Abbott Laboratories' Niaspan beat Merck's Zetia in a new study. CNBC's Mike Huckman has the details.

Cardiologist Grades Cholesterol Drug Study

16 Nov 2009

Abbott Laboratories' Niaspan beat Merck's Zetia in a new study. Dr. Steven Nissen, chairman of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at The Cleveland Clinic, shares his reaction with CNBC's Mike Huckman.

Merck's Cholesterol Drugs Under Pressure

16 Nov 2009

A new study is putting Merck's cholesterol drugs under pressure today, reports CNBC's Mike Huckman, with Ken Frazier, Merck Global Human Health president.

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CNBC ON DIGG

Getting to the Heart of the Merck-Abbott Embargo Break

Published: Monday, 16 Nov 2009 | 6:11 PM ET

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By: Mike Huckman
CNBC Correspondent

Live TV is best when things are happening and news is breaking right now. It's immediate and often, hopefully, more compelling.

That's why I and the "Squawk Box" producers were happy with the American Heart Association's plan to lift the news media embargo on the Abbott [ABT Loading... () ] versus Merck [MRK Loading... () ] study at 8 a.m. ET this morning. That'd be right in the middle of their show. Breaking and potentially stock-moving news about huge drugs made by a Dow component. It had all the elements, including controversy about the results.

But it wasn't to be. Sometime Sunday afternoon a major wire service transmitted its embargoed story on the Zetia versus Niaspan study results. It was sent with the usual notation that the piece is under embargo until a certain date and time.

But apparently someone at a relatively small, local midwestern TV station didn't see the admonishment and posted the wire story on its Web site.

After catching or being told about the error, the station took it down almost immediately. But it was too late. "Google Alerts" grabbed it and so did other Web sites. The info was out there for everyone to see. The embargo had been inadvertently broken.

After a meeting of the minds between AHA, "The New England Journal of Medicine," and the two companies involved, it was decided that the embargo would be lifted for everyone else at 6 p.m. ET Sunday.

Reporters for other wire services and media outlets suddenly had to scramble to get their finished stories out a good 14 hours sooner than planned. And with data as important and sensitive as these, that kind of rush job isn't necessarily a good thing.

The upside, perhaps, is that it gave Wall Street analysts several hours to digest and comment on the results for their investor clients, rather than the hour-and-a-half they would've had before the opening bell if the embargo lifted at 8.

This isn't the first time an embargo has been broken and it won't be the last. If the circumstances were different, the AHA and NEJM would likely put the reporter or news outlet that broke it in the naughty corner.

This appears to be an honest mistake.

But it could have been and should have been avoided. I ain't perfect and there but for the grace of God go I, but I don't understand why a major wire service pushed out a story around 18 hours before an embargo lifted. It opens wide the door for an embargo break.

There's no reason that I can see to justify copy going out so early, especially in today's push-button news transmission world.

It needs to stop.

Questions? Comments? and follow me on Twitter at mhuckman