Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Jun. 7--Cancer and vaccine experts expect the Food and Drug Administration to approve today a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, which is caused by human papilloma virus, commonly known as HPV.
"There's a pretty good indication that it will be approved on Wednesday," said Dr. Bobbie Gostout, a gynecologic oncologist at Mayo Clinic not involved in research for the drug's development.
During the past 25 years, she said, there's been only about a 2 percent to 3 percent gain in the probability of being cured of cervical cancer.
"We've made very slow progress. It's still a deadly disease. We fear it very much," Gostout said. "So we're delighted there's a vaccine."
About three of every four women who have ever had intercourse have been exposed to HPV, Gostout said. Most women do not develop cervical cancer.
The vaccine has been causing political and cultural controversy, as some conservative family groups worry that the vaccine might encourage more risky sexual behavior. They say parents should have a choice of whether to get the vaccine, rather than making it a required vaccine.
Gostout said a woman with cervical cancer who is young faces surgery that could leave her unable to have children. Half of all diagnoses occur between the ages 35 and 55. Some women have young kids at home.
"The fear that I see in her eyes, that she will not be able to finish the important job of raising her children, is haunting," Gostout said. The vaccine, she said, "will help put an end to that."
The vaccine will prevent infection with HPV and possibly other illnesses, such as genital warts, she said.
Drug giant Merck & Co. said May 18 that a committee of the Food and Drug Administration voted unanimously that data from clinical trials "supports the efficacy and safety of Gardasil" for prevention of cervical cancer.
The vaccine covers the most important types of cervical cancer, Gostout said. She expects 70 percent fewer cases of cervical cancer as a result.
Eventually, she is hopeful the vaccine will be broadened to cover more types, thus continuing to decrease the number of women who get cervical cancer.
The vaccine, she said, will likely be given to girls in three doses, starting at about age 9 or 10 to age 12 and continuing with a second dose after two months and a third after six months.
"That should offer full protection," Gostout said.
Women ages 25 and older probably will not be offered the vaccine because their chances of not having been exposed to HPV already are small, Gostout said.
But girls older than 10 or 11, the age at which vaccination would be most effective, might be offered the vaccine.
-----
Copyright (c) 2006, Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
NYSE:MRK,
