Contents
Small outbreaks of bacterial meningitis on US campuses have launched a new and lucrative business: now parents of studying children are ready to pay them expensive vaccinations, although the risk of infection is negligible. Their fears are fueled by advertisements for which the companies spare money.
- Group B meningococci are bacteria that can cause meningitis
- Although this type of disease caused by these specific bacteria is extremely rare, pharmaceutical companies have developed a vaccine to protect against the disease
- Many parents, fearing that their child will also get sick, decide to buy the vaccine. According to experts, the profits from sales will amount to at least several hundred dollars a year
Currently, there are two available overseas [also used in Poland – ed. Onet] brands of group B meningococcal vaccines, each priced in excess of $ 300, and both are widely touted by television playing on parental anxiety. “We mothers send our children into a world full of hope,” says one woman in an ad for bexsero, the vaccine giant GlaxoSmithKline, as her son parks his car to go to college. Then another voice comes in, stating, “And we don’t want something like meningitis to thwart their ranks.”
The price of health
Vaccine manufacturers count on profits from counteracting the disease, which actually occurs very rarely [viral inflammations are much more common than bacterial meningitis – ed. Onet]. Analysts predict that both preparations will generate at least hundreds of millions of dollars in profit annually in global sales. GlaxoSmithKline reported that bexsero alone earned $ 166 million in the US last year.
This is a significant amount considering that at the time of the outbreaks four years ago, at Princeton and the University of California, Santa Barbara, bexsero was not even available on the US market – in fact, no meningococcal B vaccines were sold in the US at all. The preparations used abroad have not been registered in the United States due to the clearly limited demand.
Bacterial meningitis is a rare disease. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that there are fewer than 300 cases annually in the US, and some medical experts we consulted suggest that the number may even be as close as 50-60. It is more common in Europe, especially in Great Britain.
New epidemic?
Even so, headlines about 13 cases of infection on campuses (one fatal and the other double amputation) created new financial prospects for vaccine companies. Some doctors and other pharmaceutical industry experts have objected to the way marketing is targeting parental anxiety to sell more meningococcal B vaccines and other expensive vaccinations for rare diseases. You have to pay $ 320 for a series of bexsero vaccinations. The competing preparation, trumenba, costs $ 345.
“Parents believe their children are prone to this terrible disease and act upon this fear,” admits Adrienne Faerber, a lecturer at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice and a researcher in pharmaceutical marketing. Vaccine vendors will respond that their marketing campaigns are not so much about amassing a fortune on parental fears or blowing the risk of infection, but honestly saying: – Companies themselves say it’s a rare disease: it occurs under exceptional circumstances, is unpredictable, but unfortunately devastating – said Sally Beatty, a Pfizer spokeswoman.
The representative of GlaxoSmithKline spoke in a similar tone. “The ad says,” Go talk to your doctor about this and make an informed decision, “notes Sriram Jambunathan, manager of the GlaxoSmithKline meningococcal franchise in the US. – We educate consumers.
Vaccinate or not?
However, it is up to the parents to decide whether or not to vaccinate their child without explicit guidance in federal immunization guidelines or university requirements. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advise doctors to consider vaccination against bacterial meningitis in people aged 16-23 on an individual basis. (…)
Among all this data, it’s easy for parents to get lost. “Perhaps because of all this marketing and advertising, there is some degree of bending the truth and maybe a little fear induction, which does not change the fact that meningitis is a very serious disease,” says William Moss, professor at the School of Public Health. Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, specializing in childhood immunization and health globally. However, the associated risk would not be “high enough to justify routine vaccination”.
In recent years, the interest of the pharmaceutical industry has moved beyond the relatively cheap and widely used immunizations such as tetanus injection or childhood hepatitis A to newer and more expensive vaccines for less common infections. These newer specifics have the potential to turn the vaccine industry, the traditionally less profitable part of drug production, into a golden egg-laying hen. The examples of bexsero and trumenba illustrate well how such a scenario can be implemented.
Both meningococcal B vaccines were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2015 and 2014, respectively, after two campuses reported bacterial meningitis among college students. It is not a disease that is easily infected: people must come into close physical contact by kissing or using the same utensils. The infection can be fatal, but it is curable if the patient is given antibiotics early. (…)
There is something to be afraid of?
After several cases of sickness among students at Princeton and the University of California, Santa Barbara, the CDC urgently imported the bexsero from abroad, and all other students at the two universities were vaccinated. There were no further cases of the disease there.
And now vaccine makers are calling on parents to take action: Last year, Pfizer invested more than $ 21 million in paid advertising for a trumenba, according to data compiled by Kantar Media, a company that studies the multimedia advertising market. GlaxoSmithKline then paid 79 thousand for the promotion of bexsero. dollars.
However, these figures do not include activities such as meningitis awareness-raising and GlaxoSmithKline’s social media campaigns, “significant efforts” that were “not cheap,” notes Jambunathan of GlaxoSmithKline. How much Pfizer contributed to this purpose has not been calculated either.
Meanwhile, pharmaceutical industry analysts already predict that global profits from the sale of bexsero may bring in more than $ 2022 billion in 528, although last year it amounted to about $ 820 million. At the same time, the coffin may earn 2016 million dollars (in 88, global profits from the sale of this preparation amounted to about XNUMX million dollars).
It’s about money
The financial benefits of these two companies can have a negative impact on healthcare expenditure and increase consumer concerns beyond measure. – As a mother I will say that if my child fell ill, and I had the opportunity to prevent it earlier, and I would not, I would like to kill myself for it – admits Martha Arden, a youth doctor cooperating with Mount Sinai Hospital. – On the other hand, the risk of getting sick is low. For example, sending a child to go skiing is much more dangerous than not giving up this vaccine.
Jambunathan believes that the high price of vaccination is justified by the cost of bringing it to the market. Pharmaceutical companies are unlikely to be interested in developing new drugs if they are then unable to get back the money invested in them, explains GlaxoSmithKline.
Parents who decide to pay for vaccines for their children will have to face the doubts that these specifics raise. Researchers are unable to say how long the immunized person would remain immune. In addition, some believe that immunization would apply only to certain types of the disease, which means that the effectiveness of vaccinations in the US is not a foregone conclusion (different types of bacterial meningitis occur in different parts of the world). The significant cost of vaccination may not be felt immediately to consumers as it will usually be covered by insurance. In the long run, however, they may lead to higher rates.
In a world where there is not enough money for comprehensive health care, it would be wiser to invest in other threats, some experts argue. Which does not change the fact that parents will pay for meningococcal B vaccinations without blinking an eye. “When your child is affected, or when someone you know is affected by the disease, the economic calculations of health care are no longer relevant,” notes Jambunathan.