If you have a young son, you might need to protect him from his pediatrician

(Not) worth a shot

When I tell you they’re coming after your sons, you better believe it.

Merck has signed on some medical mainstream heavy hitters in the push to get a Gardasil vaccine into every young man in America.

Who’s helping Merck get this dirty business done?

The American Academy of Pediatrics. The National Institutes of Health. The New England Journal of Medicine. And…CNN. (Oh…this is news alright!)

One big happy family

“HPV vaccine effective in men” is the CNN headline.

That alone is enough to set me right up on edge. But a friend who sent me the article added this note: “What a puff piece! No mention of deaths, adverse side effects–just shiny, happy and effective.”

That pretty much nails it.

The CNN piece describes a new NEJM study that’s just chock full of good news for Merck: Gardasil may reduce the risk of genital warts AND the risk of contracting HPV. And (as my friend noted) there’s not a peep about the horrible side effects and nearly 90 deaths linked to Gardasil among young girls.

So far, two boys who received Gardasil have died. They’re not mentioned either, of course.

And then the capper: CNN tell us the American Academy of Pediatrics has included the HPV vaccine on the list of recommended vaccines for boys.

That’s REALLY bad news. Between the AAP recommendation and the NEJM results, pediatricians all over the U.S. now have the green light to aggressively promote this very expensive (and dangerous) vaccine for boys and young men aged 9 to 26.

But the new study has a couple of problems. If you look closely, you’ll see that Merck is seducing NEJM readers with one of Big Pharma’s favorite devices: lipstick on a pig.

Yes, it’s a lovely shade of pink…just slightly opaque. But if you try hard enough, you can see through it.

The study was partly funded by the National Institutes of Health, and partly funded by Merck. But that’s just getting started.

The trial was also designed by Merck. And some of the study authors have significant Merck affiliations:

• Seven authors are employees of Merck and own Merck stock or stock options
• Five authors received Merck grant support
• Five authors received speaking fees or fees for board membership from Merck
• Six authors received travel reimbursement from Merck
• One author has “an approved, filed, or pending patent” related to subject matter discussed in the NEJM article

It’s just one big happy Merck family, cranking out a study with (surprise!) wonderful results for the Merck product.

The abstract of the study concludes that Gardasil “prevents infection” that causes genital warts. But that’s just flat out misleading because the efficacy in preventing the warts was 60 percent.

So does Gardasil HELP prevent genital warts in boys? Well, in this Merck-friendly study, yes…it did. Did Gardasil perform better than placebo? Yes, it did.

But can they say Gardasil “prevented” infection? Not at all. Not without plenty of qualifiers.

Unfortunately, most pediatricians won’t see the glaring caveats. And most of them probably don’t want to. They’ll ignore the obvious marketing job, call the results “science,” and start writing prescriptions for many thousands of boys.

But remember, these prescriptions are carefully designed to protect Merck’s profits–at the risk of your son’s health. Let them concentrate on their family. We’ll take care of ours.

Sources:
“Efficacy of Quadrivalent HPV Vaccine against HPV Infection and Disease in Males”  New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 364, No. 5, 2/3/11, nejm.org
“HPV vaccine effective in men” CNN, 2/2/11, cnn.com