Bridget Maher, spokesperson for the Family Research Council, believes that last bit of good news may not be such good news after all. “Giving the HPV vaccine to young women could be potentially harmful, because they may see it as a license to engage in premarital sex.”
Anyway, the vaccine's on its way to approval.
Interestingly, Merck is also figuring that the best defense is a good offense. They're countering the FOTF propaganda machine with a publicity campaign.
Girls as young as 11 could be approved to use the vaccine. But the idea of children that young being inoculated against a sexually transmitted disease is upsetting to many parents and parental groups.
So Merck's recent educational campaign has focused on prevention of HPV and cervical cancer, and de-emphasized sexuality.
"Merck continues to work with all organizations to understand diverse positions and make people feel comfortable about broad use of Gardasil," said Merck spokeswoman Kelley Dougherty.
And that has apparently been a winning strategy. Dougherty the company has managed to win growing support for Gardasil over the last year.
"How could anyone be against vaccination against a common virus that causes cervical cancer?" asked Ryan. "I think, in that way, [Merck] is successfully walking down the path that will minimize complications along those lines."
The Holy Terrors have carefully danced around the issue, after the initial spate of bad publicity:
Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council, both faith-based conservative policy organizations, recently have spoken in support of HPV vaccines from Merck and GlaxoSmithKline because of their life-saving potential. But the organizations still promote abstinence before marriage as the best way to prevent infection.
"The HPV vaccine does not, in any circumstances, negate or substitute God's plan for sexuality, which is sexual abstinence until marriage and sexual faithfulness within marriage," said Focus on the Family spokeswoman Linda Klepacki in a statement on the organization's Web site.
There's also some discussion about whether the FDA could still kill the drug for political/pseudo-moral reasons like the recent stink about emergency contraception.
J.P. Morgan's Rubin observed the FDA will be closely watched to make sure it doesn't reject Gardasil based on morality instead of science, as the agency is accused of doing in its failure to approve birth control pill Plan B for over-the-counter availability. The FDA said it did not approve Plan B for OTC use because there was not enough data involving girls under the age of 16, even though its advisory committee had recommended approval.
"I think the FDA's failure to approve Plan B [as an over-the-counter drug] despite the FDA advisory committee's support on this probably backfired on them," said Rubin.
Funtleyder of Miller Tabak said that Gardasil won't be as politically difficult to get past the FDA as Plan B, because Plan B is a birth control drug and Gardasil is not.
"Certainly the same political forces that were in operation then are in operation now," said Funtleyder. "But [Gardasil] is a different product. [Plan B] was closer to contraception [than Gardasil.]"
First of all, hooray about fighting cervical cancer. Secondly, boo that this issue has to even come up. The Holy Terrors are so extreme in their fundamentalist views they are actually opposing the advancement of science to protect their own belief system. One wonders whether they'd still have a problem with treatments for epilleptic fits or depression or even (horrors!!!) the female orgasm.
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