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Vaccine for cervical cancer approved
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| Contributor | RP |
| Last Edited | RP Jun 12, 2006 06:10pm |
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| Category | Legal Ruling |
| News Date | Saturday, June 10, 2006 12:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | U.S. drug officials have announced the approval of a vaccine against cervical cancer that could eventually save thousands of lives each year in the United States and hundreds of thousands in the rest of the world.
Federal vaccine experts are widely expected to recommend that all 11- to 12-year-old girls get the vaccine, but the vaccine's reach could be limited by its high price and religious objections to its use. Merck, Gardasil's maker, said that a full, three-shot course will cost $360, making Gardasil among the most expensive vaccines ever made.
The vaccine prevents lasting infections with two human papillomavirus strains that cause 70 percent of cancers and another two strains that cause 90 percent of genital warts. But if girls have already been exposed to those strains, the vaccine has no effect, so health experts want the vaccine given before girls have sex. The median age at which girls have sex is 15. |
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