Foiled Again You know those movies where the villain comes to a grisly end, followed by a scene or two of sweet relief as the surviving characters get on with their lives? If you've seen a few of these movies, you know what to expect: Someone opens a door and the "defeated" villain is standing there, chainsaw in hand, eyeballs spinning, ready to take up right where he left off. This type of movie came to mind when I heard the recent news that Merck & Co. representatives had decided not to continue their controversial campaign to encourage state legislatures across the country to make Merck's HPV vaccine mandatory for young schoolgirls (HPV is human papillomavirus, which causes cervical cancer). Now, I'm not saying that Merck executives are a bunch of crazed chainsaw killers. But if they were, they would probably be pretty good at it because they're just as doggedly tenacious as any hard-to-kill movie villain. As we've seen time and again, drug companies never back down. Never. So what's next? Here's one direction Merck's HPV vaccine campaign may be headed: free vaccines. Yeah, but…how can you make money by giving away vaccines? Turns out, it's pretty easy. You sell the vaccines to individual states, and then the states provide the vaccines for free. Nice one! Last week, the Associated Press reported that Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts has proposed that nearly $25 million of the state's budget be devoted to providing three free vaccines (including the HPV vaccine) for young kids. Of course, this proposal may come to a grisly end in the Massachusetts legislature. At which point someone will open a door and… Sources: "Mass. Would Offer Cancer Vaccine Free" Associated Press, 2/26/07, forbes.com | 
