Merck’s cervical cancer vaccine ‘effective for 5 years’

Gardasil, a vaccine that has been designed to protect women from cervical cancer, is effective for five years, according to research published today.

The drug has been designed to combat human papillomavirus, which is thought to cause the majority of cases of cervical cancer, reports Reuters.

Last year saw Merck announce that Gardasil had also been 100 per cent effective over two years in a study that involves 25,000 people in 33 countries worldwide.

Today’s announcement confirmed that women who used Gardasil, which is being developed in association with Sanofi-Aventis, French pharmaceutical and vaccine manufacturer, experienced no evidence of either cervical or external genital lesions, according to scientists speaking at a meeting in Paris.

Earlier this month, a competitor to the treatment being developed by GlaxoSmithKline, known as Cervarix, was found to be effective for a period of four years.

It is reported that the global market for these drugs is thought to be in the region of ?2 billion and that Gardasil has been registered in both the US and Europe, whereas GlaxoSmithKline has only registered Cervarix in Europe.

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