ZOSTAVAX aka ZOSTALAX Efficacy Decreases After 8 Years!!!

Discussion in 'Merck' started by Anonymous, Jan 13, 2015 at 4:21 PM.

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  1. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Merck is making sure this study, "Long-Term Persistence of Zoster Vaccine Efficacy", stays buried for a while. So much for all of the hard work and challenges with this product. Maybe this is why Merck leadership has been trying to force feed the sales force and customers with Zostavax because they knew this day was coming. When customers find out about this, they will not be too pleased especially with all of the harassing sales tactics we used to sell this product for the last 9 years.

    The link is below. If you don't believe it, Google the title of the article on your own. It came out in November 2014 of Clinical Infectious Diseases: An Official Publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

    http://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/25416754/Long_Term_Persistence_of_Zoster_Vaccine_Efficacy_

    The conclusion of the article says it all:

    "CONCLUSIONS
     Estimates of vaccine efficacy decreased over time in the LTPS population compared to modeled control estimates. Statistically significant vaccine efficacy for HZ Burden of Illness persisted into year 10 post-vaccination, whereas statistically significant vaccine efficacy for Incidence of HZ persisted only through year 8."

    So leadership, what is your tactical plan for the sales force to address this disappointing data? Focusing on campaign lists and forcing customers to sign up on HIF won't fix this one.
     

  2. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Okay GSK rep. Go sell some cervarix.
     
  3. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Nah, I will go for the rota, hep a, hep b and convert to pediarix since you guys turned your back on the pediatric business. Easy pickings. Please thank your management team for us. You made our lives so much easier.
     
  4. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    OK, you got us... a single dose of a vaccine given to a 70 year old will have declining titers after several years. Where is the surprise?
    Obviously, you know nothing about immune responses of people. Do I have to explain younger people have stronger responses than old farts?
     
  5. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Zostavax is much more expensive than Pneumovax 23 or a flu vaccine numb nuts! Adults are not going to want to pay 2 ( anywhere from $20 to $80 per dose) large copays or if they have to pay out of pocket, close to $400 dollars for a 2 dose Zostavax series. Providers are already dragging their heals for one dose. Do you really think they are going to be fired up to pitch it as a 2 dose series? Wake up and see the full picture moron!
     
  6. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Zostavax will be the most expensive 2 dose adult vaccine series that physicians and patients won't be eager to get. It will be more expensive than the Pneumovax 23 series and far more expensive than a flu shot. You are not seeing the bigger picture. Cost and reimbursement are killing this vaccine.
     
  7. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    If it were easy they wouldn't need us. I call it job security. seems like it's time to stop worrying about 2 years from now and make the most of being a solo player with one dose. We finally have a reasonable objective so this is the year to clean up. There is still plenty of people with no copay so while you whine and say it's too hard to sell i am going to kick your @ss and will laugh all the way to the bank. I will also have a job when we have another reorg. It's negative people like you who will get cut.
     
  8. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    The vaccine has been out 9 years and still has only about 30 percent of the eligible population using it. You go ahead keep getting the door slammed in your face over a product adults and the PC community basically doesn't care about. I would rather go back to pediatric offices where there are still challenges but at least there is still access and opportunity. If we went back after the hep a, hep b and rota business we lost, we would make more money selling that than zostavax. So go ahead Joe bad @ss koolaid chugger, going after that zostavax business that's not there and possibly not get a bonus like many reps have experienced over the last couple of years. I am going to sell the crap out of Gardasil, a product that makes twice as much in revenue than Lostavax, more bonus money for me.
     
  9. Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    District based SIP....so knock yourself out....rigged to the lower range ... But u can do it....
     
  10. #10 Anonymous, Feb 2, 2015 at 2:35 AM
    Last edited by a moderator: May 21, 2017 at 1:51 PM
    Anonymous

    Anonymous Guest

    Anything is better than selling Zostavax so yes I will knock myself out selling Gardasil 9. At least doctors are excited about it and want more information about it. Hell, they actually want to see me and don't roll their eyes when I mention the name Gardasil 9 unlike Zostavax.