A Merck spokesman said the lawsuit lacked merit.

John Doorley, a Merck spokesman, said the price charged to distributors would be about $12 for a daily dose.

John Doorley, a Merck spokesman, said the company intended to compete head-on with the prices of generic drugs.

Commenting on the accord, a Merck spokesman stated: "You read papers today (that there are) all those medicines in the rainforest.

There is a demand for the vaccine, according to the Merck spokesman, from working parents who are inconvenienced when their children get the disease.

"We believe they are only slight modifications necessary for our advertising," a Merck spokesman said.

John Doorley, a Merck spokesman, said pharmacists would suggest a switch only when it would help the patient.

A Merck spokesman declined to comment on the company's lobbying.

A Merck spokesman said that the papers Schadt began publishing based on this genetic network data "changed the way people looked at disease."

A Merck spokesman declined to comment.