Merck & Co. celebrated victory when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel made a unanimous recommendation to the FDA to approve the first-ever vaccine to protect against women's cancer. Gardisil (quadrivalent human papillomavirus types 6, 11, 16, 18, recombinant vaccine), a vaccine developed by Merck and tested by UAB investigators, is designed to protect against human papillomavirus (HPV), the sexually transmitted virus thought to be responsible for most cervical cancers. It is being hailed as the biggest breakthrough in women's reproductive cancers since the Pap smear.

But there are still several important milestones left to conquer, says Warner Huh, M.D., gynecologic oncologist and an investigator on the Merck trials and GlaxoSmithKline's HPV vaccine clinical trials.

"The FDA advisory committee's endorsement is a major step toward protecting women from cervical cancer, and we hope to hear a final decision from the FDA by June 8," Huh said. "But more importantly, the national Advisory Committee of Immunization Practices (ACIP) will likely decide this summer whether to endorse routine vaccination with this vaccine. The ACIP's HPV vaccine workgroup is recommending vaccination for girls 11 and 12 years of age. They also will consider recommendations for older adolescents and young adults. This is the committee that will decide whether this vaccine should be part of routine vaccinations for children, like the measles, mumps and rubella or chickenpox vaccines."

'"/>

Contact: Tracy Bischoff
tracy@uab.edu
205-934-8935
University of Alabama at Birmingham
19-May-2006

Page: 1
Related biology news :

1. Whats the backscatter of your beer?
2. Whats going on in the body? Advanced time-of-flight PET takes a superior look
3. Whats in the water? Estrogenic activity documented in fish caught in Pittsburghs rivers
4. A Cross-Disciplinary Look at Scientific Truth: Whats the Law to Do?
5. Whats the difference between mice and men?
6. Ossur repeats Popular Science Best of Whats New award
7. Whats next for gene therapy? Plastic
8. Whats shaped like a pear and has two genomes? Check the pond
9. Whats nature worth? New computer models tell all
10. Anti-evolutionism in AmericaWhats ahead?
11. Ossurs Power Knee wins Popular Science magazines 2005 Best of Whats New Award