The pharma industry blog http://www.pharmalot.com estimated world wide Propecia Sales for Q2’07 at $98 million (http://www.pharmalot.com/2007/10/mercks-propecia-sales-force-is-thinning-out). Assuming an average retail price of USD 200 for a 3 months supply and an average retail margin of 25% (see http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_projects/2001/monitoring/fp_monitoring_2001_frep_12_2_en.pdf ), Propecia has around 600’000 users world wide.
Assuming 1% of these users are experiencing side effects, there should be around 6’000 sufferers world wide. This forum currently has 510 users of which around 50 seem to be active. That means we are only touching a very small portion of affected men.
Public awareness of this problem is key to getting more people onto this site. More sufferers on this site means a better chance of getting answers to our questions. We have to increase the pressure on Merck.
Merck reported $6.1 bio. sales for Q2’07 meaning that Propecia only accounts for 1.6% of Merck’s total sales.
Merck is currently involved in product liabilty law suits for its VIOXX product. The company has agreed to settle 47’000 cases for $4.85 billion.
We need to get to the point of filing a class action law suit against Merck. The only way that this become reality is if we work on it - together. We need advocates in each country, lawyers, doctors, IT specialists and senior business men. This crew needs to be recruited first.
To get this process rolling, we have to get organized. In order to do that, we need to communicate without the risk of being watched by Merck. I suggest that we create a private forum area where dedicated forum members can work out a battle plan.
What do you think Mew?