Merck

By: Branden Tanti

Background Of Merck

Gardasil: Vaccine given to all girls in grade seven to fight against HPV

Singulair: Vaccine to treat asthma symptoms and seasonal allergies

Propecia: Vaccine for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and male pattern baldness (MPB).

The vaccine developed did not turn out as planned so Merck falsified the results of the tests. This means that "any child in the US that has received the mumps vaccine has gotten nothing more than a 45 year old strain of the mumps virus which has weakened over time so much that it is rendered virtually useless."

Thank you or listening :) I hoped you learned a lot and enjoyed the presentation.

Thank you or listening :) I hoped you learned a lot and enjoyed the presentation.

Thank you or listening :) I hoped you learned a lot and enjoyed the presentation.

Scandal

Current Status of Merck

Though the company took a big hit after the scandal, they bounced back shortly after and are better then ever.

The main cause of their very successful bounce back was because of three new vaccines that would total a revenue of almost 7 billion dollars a year.

These three vaccines target three different things: one for a rotavirus, one for shingles,

and one for cervical cancer.

Nature of the Scandal

Background information: 1967 -- Dr. Maurice Hilleman developed a mumps vaccine. His daughter had contracted the mumps virus and it was this very strain that he created the vaccine from.

The scandal was uncovered when two virologists came forward claiming that they witnessed Merck use improper testing methods and data falsification.

Industry:

Location:

Founded:

Products:

Revenue:

Employees:

Who was Affected?

86, 000 (2011)

US$ 48.047 billion (2011)

-One of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.

Pharmaceuticals

Those who received the vaccination were directly affected. Families of those who received the vaccination were also affected.

This is because in 2006 and again in 2009 there were outbreaks of Mumps due to this vaccination.

Note: Mumps is a very communicable disease and those who are in close contact with those who have it will get it.

Because the strain of the illness was in the vaccine, it is thought that this was the direct cause of the outbreaks and over 300,000 cases of mumps per year.

Key Players

1891 as a subsidiary

1917 as an independent company

New Jersey, United States

Gardasil, Singulair, Propecia

and many other commonly used vaccines

Dr. Maurice Hilleman was the primary cause of the scandal as he created the vaccine.

Who was involved?

Was there a whistle blower?

How was it allowed to happen?

What penalty was there?

Yes, the scandal was outed by two virologists that worked for Merck.

Two former employees of Merck

The scandal was allowed to happen because no one knew about it, until two people came forward in 2010.

The U.S. Dept. of Justice seems to not care and have modestly chosen to ignore the False Claims Act complaint. When this scandal was brought before them they were less than interested.

Filed in 2010,

43 years after

the vaccine

was created