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news.Merck & Co.'s cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil has demonstrated 100% efficacy against precancerous lesions and genital warts in a three-year follow up study.
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Gardasil protects against the four strains of human papillomavirus that cause 70% of cervical cancer cases. After three years of follow up in two large phase III clinical studies which included more than 17,000 women, Gardasil prevented 98% to 100% of precancerous and potentially precancerous cervical lesions, precancerous and potentially precancerous vulvar and vaginal lesions, and genital warts.
Professor Margaret Stanley, of Cambridge University, said: “The efficacy results on which the licensure of Gardasil was based, were already excellent and very reliable. The new data clearly demonstrate that this high efficacy is likely to persist for a long time.”
Despite screening for early detection, cervical cancer remains the second most common cause of death from cancer (after breast cancer) among young women (15-44 years) in Europe. Around 33,500 women are diagnosed with, and 15,000 women die from cervical cancer each year.