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NYT Letter to the Editor from Dick Clark |
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(Text of letter as submitted to The New York Times) August 20, 2008 Letters to the Editor To the Editor: Your August 20 story, "Drug Makers' Push Leads to Cancer Vaccines' Fast Rise," does not accurately reflect the consensus of the medical community about the importance of Gardasil [Human Papillomavirus Quadrivalent (Types 6, 11, 16, and 18) Vaccine, Recombinant] and vaccination against HPV. Gardasil has received nearly universal support from medical associations, regulatory bodies and policy-making groups -- and the New York Times, in a February 26, 2007 editorial, "A Necessary Vaccine" -- because the vaccine is highly effective to help prevent cervical disease, including cancer. Yesterday's Times story dismisses the risks of HPV to U.S. women, but the truth is that even 50 years after the advent of Pap testing, 10 women a day are dying of cervical cancer in the U.S., as are 500 women around the world. Given these numbers, it is difficult to understand why, in an unusually lengthy story, the Times could not find room for the voice of one cervical cancer survivor, one widower or a motherless child. The combination of screening and this first-of-its-kind vaccine gives physicians and the public health community the necessary tools to reduce the burden of cervical cancer even further in the U.S. and throughout the world. To help make this happen, Merck has committed to provide Gardasil to developing world women at prices from which Merck will not profit. There is no new information in Ms. Rosenthal's story. Since the Times wrote in its 2007 editorial: "Merck's Gardasil — looks highly effective against strains that cause 70 percent of all cervical cancer. With more than two million doses already distributed, the reported side effects have been mostly minor, such as dizziness or fainting.... The vaccine could prevent thousands of new cases of cervical cancer annually and hundreds of thousands of cases of genital warts and precancerous growths" - only one thing has changed: millions more doctors, parents and women have chosen Gardasil because of what this vaccine can do. We hope the Times will return to its previous opinion that "Merck deserves praise for developing Gardasil at a time when many companies shun the vaccine business as risky and unprofitable." We take seriously our responsibility to develop and market medicines and vaccines that have saved and will save millions of lives, and that is what we will continue to do.
Richard T. Clark One Merck Drive |
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