Until 2023, MSD's manufacturing plants will be able to fully meet the global demand for Gardasil, the HPV vaccine
What if there's no supply? MSD has started to borrow medicine from CDC! According to fiercepharma, this month, MSD borrowed Gardasil 9 vaccine from CDC's children's vaccine stock in the United States to help meet the vaccination demand in the United States
The vaccine is currently approved in the United States for the prevention of some HPV with high cancer risk in 9-45-year-old adolescents and adults
"These borrowed vaccines will be used for routine vaccinations in the United States, while the company can produce and provide vaccines for other parts of the world where demand exceeds supply, including areas where people who are highly vulnerable to infection live," mosadong said at the third quarter earnings meeting Even so, the final result of "borrow vaccine" is to harm the company's interests, a spokesman for MSD said, the move will reduce the company's sales in the fourth quarter by about $120 million
On Tuesday (October 29), MSD released its third quarter results, with total market sales of $12.397 billion, up 16% year on year
Among them, Gardasil's sales reached US $1.32 billion, up 27% year on year
Gardasil has become the second best seller after keytruda
As of September this year, sales of Gardasil's product portfolio have exceeded $3 billion
Although Gardasil's global sales grew by nearly 30%, in the United States it grew by only 3%
On the one hand, the factory can't supply, on the other hand, it's a losing business after all
In 2017, the production of MSD was paralyzed by cyber attacks for several months
At that time, Gardasil products using CDC Inventory were launched to make up for serious market supply shortage
A total of 240 million US dollars worth of Gardasil vaccine were borrowed in that year
The suspension and borrowing strategy reduced the sales of HPV vaccine in MSD by 22% in that quarter
This summer, MSD announced an expansion of vaccine production in Virginia and an increase of 100 jobs
A few weeks later, the company announced that it would close its varicella vaccine plant in North Carolina, build a 225000 square foot new Gardasil plant and add 425 jobs
MSD also said this year that it would invest about $1.68 billion in two plants in the United States to increase Gardasil production
However, these facilities need to be online in the next few years
The market demand of Gardasil is obviously faster than the production speed of MSD
In China, after the approval of Gardasil 9-valent vaccine for 16-26-year-old women in 2018, they are always in line for appointment, and the sales volume in the Chinese market has also become an important driving force for the global growth of the vaccine
Once the current research on expanding the age range of vaccinators (for women aged 27-45 years) is successful and the population is expanded, the demand and sales volume of Gardasil products will further increase rapidly
"By 2023, it is expected to increase supply to meet us and global demand," Frank clyburn, chief business officer of MSD, told analysts
"As the company continues to match and shift supply to meet global demand, Gardasil's market will continue to grow in the next few years." Currently, MSD does not know whether it needs to increase the number of vaccines borrowed from CDC again to supply the market
"The company is urgently investing in vaccine manufacturing to meet the growing global demand," Merck spokesman Pamela Eisele reiterated in an email on October 30
It will continue to monitor supply to see if there is a need for borrowing in the future and when it is appropriate to replenish inventory
" Reference source: [1] Merck siphons off Gardasil CDC supplies against as global sales surge [2] Merck announcements third quarter 2019 financial results
