Swapping Zocor & Vioxx for Gardasil & Januvia?
Is it news if it's obvious? Apparently, yes.
Beleaguered or not, I like Merck more than its competitors; I think they've probably got a deeper pipeline than most of the other big drugmakers, and they're certainly more interesting. They've got their Gardasil vaccine for HPV, and they've got Januvia for diabetes, and Zostavax for shingles. Three completely new therapies, with a mix of evergreening of a few other drugs for good measure.
I think Merck will be the model the model for major pharmaceutical companies from now on. Or perhaps it should be. There's a lot of ruckus made on both sides of the fence when it comes to litigation vs. innovation as a profit vehicle. Not being an insider, I'm not sure what to think, though I think the truth is probably somewhere in the middle (it usually is) — big pharma has gambled too much on DTC advertising and has focused on quarterly profits rather than on long-term health, and it's going to bite them eventually, more than it currently is.
The problem is probably due to two main factors: greed (money now!) and an overall shift in focus on the part of investors from long-term health and viability to quarterly returns. We're seeing this in fields outside healthcare as well, particularly in technology and every other R&D-driven industry. The Warren Buffett school of thought seems terribly lacking in today's investment world, and I think the house of cards is going to come crashing down eventually.
Beat the horses until they're dead, but then what?
[tags]Medicine, pharmacy, big pharma, merck, zostavax, januvia, gardasil[/tags]
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[...] Since when has investor confidence been the measure of a successful company? By and large, "investors" are a fickle bunch, blowing with the wind regardless of the background strength of a given company. They're herded largely by analysts who put too much emphasis on the wrong things (I'm speaking mostly of in terms of Big Pharma in this case) and who are motivated more by quarterly earnings than growth prospects, pipeline depth, and overall company health. [...]
Pingback by Nerves “frayed” at Forest? Um… why? :: OnThePharm — July 13, 2006 @ 5:17 pm
[...] A while ago I mentioned that Merck was hoping to replace Zocor and Vioxx with Gardasil and Januvia. John Mack at the Pharma Marketing Blog has pointed out that they've largely been successful if stock price is your measure of business success. [...]
Pingback by South Dakota to provide Gardasil for free :: OnThePharm — January 9, 2007 @ 9:06 pm