SteveM

You may have more information that i have been able to find - if so I would love a reference i can check your assumptions against.

My research shows Gardasil is a registered trade mark of Merck and Co. Merck have done and paid for the clinical Phase Trial testing and manufactured the drug.

While CSL are drug manufacturers i can find no evidence that they actually make Gardasil for Merck - the only indicated competitor to Gardasil is being made by GlaxoSmithKline under the brand Cervarix. (Unsure if CSL license them too?)

CSL might want a bigger slice of the pie than 7% in Australia and so have instigated the paperwork necessary to control Merck's sales here. That does not equate to them making the drug themselves and being willing to give away the 7% licensing commission they get on the price Merck fix worldwide for their drug.

Am i still wrong Steve?

You may be happy to know Costello's 'bud' Abbott has just told CSL to make 'their' Gardasil more 'cost effective' ('cheaper' in real human speak) than the current A$450 per three injections over 6 months (The real reason Abbott wants to delay the vaccine during a full school year - to ensure as accurate and complete vaccination program administration as possible).

By ripping us off to the tune of over 1000% for a potato or fruit juice, Coles and Woolies do not need to seek a 100% government grant neither do they invest millions of their own money to establish something entirely new that saves lives.
I'm sure your Coles shares have made you a tidy sum - far less than you pay them in profits on the fruit and veg you buy, probably, but hey.... It's only money - right?

CSL first owned the IP (intellectual property) of Gardasil, back in 1995 they sold the license to Merck who performed the expensive clinical trials etc. CSL in this agreement still owns 7% royalties. Therefore they a both making lots of money, but Merck will make a whole lot more than CSL obviously! But so they should! The approximate cost for a drug to go from development to market cost about $1 billion. And remember only a small fraction of these drugs make it to market. Dont you want drug companies to find more cures, they need this profit to do this. This is a huge discovery, the first ever drug that will prevent a particular cancer, of course they can put a price of $360 per pateint. Who would be stupid enough to not pay $360 for a vaccination against this virus which kills almost 300,000 people worldwide annually. I am all for the Government subsidising this vaccine. $35 mill is a small amount on money to the government over a 4 year period, and the ongoing cost is only estimated at $50 mill after this.