Thu Oct 06, 2005 9:32 pm   Reply with quote      

A controversial vaccine against cervical cancer could be available within a year following dramatic trial results.

The drug, Gardasil, was 100% effective at preventing the pre-cursor changes that signal the disease.

A total of 12,167 women aged 16 to 23 from 13 countries including the UK took part in the trial.

Half were given three injections of Gardasil spanning six months and half jabs of an inactive dummy drug. They were then monitored for an average of two years.

Gardasil is designed to protect against two strains of a virus called the human papillomavirus, or HPV, that trigger 70% of cervical cancers. The vaccine not only acts against the HPV 16 and 18 strains, but also strains six and 11 which cause genital warts.

The trial findings showed Gardasil to be 100% effective at preventing high-grade and non-invasive pre-cancerous lesions associated with the 16 and 18 strains. Similar results were previously seen in a smaller trial of 277 women.

The new study, called Future II, is part of an ongoing phase III trial programme involving more than 25,000 patients in 33 countries.

None of the women were infected with HPV at the start of the trial and they remained infection-free throughout the treatment course.

Gardasil’s manufacturers are on track to apply for a US Food and Drug Administration licence to market the vaccine before the end of this year. This will be followed by a licence application to the European Medicines Agency.

The vaccines could be among the biggest-selling drugs of all time. One analyst has estimated that Gardasil - a joint venture by the pharmaceutical companies Sanofi Pasteur and Merck & Co Inc - could be worth a billion US dollars (£567 million) a year.

Aaron

Fri Oct 07, 2005 2:44 am   Reply with quote      

Releasing so many new cancer drugs itself is controversial enough.

Fri Oct 07, 2005 9:08 am   Reply with quote      

True, but I think irradicating cervical cancer altogether - with the aid of a vaccine - would be some achievement.

Aaron