Per the StreetInsider -- do go read it all:
. . . .Merck is currently delaying orders of their ProQuad childhood vaccine, which it had stopped distributing in 2007, according to a Dow Jones Newswire.
The company previously planned on shipping the vaccine on February 15, 2010.
The delay, according to a spokesperson, is to supply other vaccines that share ingredients with ProQuad that are in more of demand currently. The other vaccines include Varivax for chickenpox, Zostavax for shingles and M-M-R II for measles, mumps and rubella.
ProQuad combines in one shot vaccines to protect against measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox.
Sales peaked at $264 million in 2007, but then plunged as the company suspended new sales. The components of ProQuad are being supplied in the Varivax and M-M-R II vaccines. . . .
Now only a minor amount of annual revenue, in any event -- and thus non-material -- but this latest news may mean this dubious combo-vaccine will never make a return to U.S. clinics. If memory serves, this is the third time Whitehouse Station has delayed the reintroduction date.
I suspect government and insurance payers are also likely to balk (in this highly cost constrained environment), if asked to pay upmarket prices for the would-be combo-vaccine.
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