Giant Merck, a major growth stock for 50 years has seen that growth slowing down along with Pfizer and the rest of the major drug companies. Merck has latched onto a new strategy to build sales again, but it’s not just Merck and Pfizer that are suffering. The major pharmaceutical companies around the world are in a slowdown, and panic is starting to set into the executive suite.Some of these companies are now doing in the tens of billions of dollars per year in sales. The drug industry is the most profitable industry in the world today bar none. The returns on invested capital, and profit margins are extraordinaryPresident Bush, and the then Republican Congress created the prescription drug program for seniors in an attempt to reverse the tide for these companies. The drug manufacturers have been a major contributor to the Republican Party for more than a decade. Both Merck, and Pfizer have begun downsizing their sales forces in response to the slow down.The problem for these companies is that they have gotten so big in terms of their sales bases, that they are having great difficulty generating new drugs on a scale that can compensate for the slowdown of their current portfolio of drugs. In addition many of these fabulous drugs currently being sold are going off patent protection, and that means a collapse in sales revenues. Once the generics take over, than it’s over for the original creator of the drug.What has Merck done NOW?Merck has created a new cervical-cancer vaccine. The American Cancer Society tells us that a little more than 11000 women this year will be told by their doctors that they have this terrible disease. What’s worse is that more than 3500 of those women will eventually succumb to it.Let’s put this in perspective. About 180,000 women this year will be told they have breast cancer. About 40,000 of these previously diagnosed women will eventually die from breast cancer, and its complications. Between 8 times and 10 times the number of women who die from breast cancer, will die from heart disease this year. As you know breast cancer gets all the publicity compared to the other two diseases.This new anti cervical-cancer vaccine is a wonderful creation,and everyone at Merck who participated in its creation should feel great pride in their work. What about the executives, and marketing people at Merck. Well, that’s a different story. Merck has decided to attempt to force the use of this vaccine onto every female pre-teenager, and teenager in America. They are pulling out all the stops in an attempt to influence every legislator they can find to mandate this vaccination be given to children regardless of their parent’s wishes.Merck got TEXAS on board firstCould you believe it? Merck got Texas Governor Rick Perry to sign an executive order. Such an order negates the need for the Texas legislature to get involved. This order will require every young girl in Texas to receive the Merck vaccination Gardasil at $360 for three shots of the vaccine, and yes all three are needed. You are probably aware that there is a measles-mumps vaccine that has been on the market for years. The measles shot costs only $43 per dose by comparison.