MSD Pharmaceuticals is willing to participate in a global tender that the Union Health Ministry is likely to float in April to procure HPV vaccine against cervical cancer for immunisation of girls aged 9 to 14. MSD Pharmaceuticals Private Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Merck Sharp and Dohme (known as Merck and Co Inc in the US and Canada), sells its HPV vaccine Gardasil 4 (quadrivalent vaccine) in India. It is currently priced at Rs 3,927 per dose.
An estimated 1,500 people aged 12 years and over with melanoma are set to benefit from MSD’s – known as Merck & Co in the US and Canada – pembrolizumab (Keytruda), which reduces the chance of it returning, following guidance issued by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.