GSK HPV vacc provides longest protection

New data demonstrate that UK drug major GlaxoSmithKline's cervical cancer candidate vaccine, Cervarix, provides significant protection for women against the four most common cancer-causing human papillomavirus types for nearly six and a half years, the longest duration of protection reported to date. Over this time, the cervical cancer vaccine candidate showed 100% efficacy in preventing precancerous lesions due to cancer-causing virus types 16 and 18, and also provided substantial protection against infection caused by virus types 31 and 45.

These data, which were presented at the Society of Gynecologic Oncologists' annual meeting, held in Florida, USA, show that virtually 100% of the women in the study aged between 15 and 25 years maintained high levels of antibodies against both virus types 16 and 18 at every time point for nearly six and a half years. GSK noted that antibody levels remained several times higher than natural infection levels over the extended period of time.

The new data could help give the GSK vaccine an edge over rival product Gardasil, made by US drug major Merck & Co, which was granted domestic approval two years ago (Marketletter June 19, 2006). The study also confirmed substantial cross-protection for nearly six and a half years against incident infection caused by virus types 45 and 31. Specifically, the vaccine showed 78% efficacy in preventing incident infection caused by virus type 45, and 60% efficacy in preventing incident infection caused by virus type 31, GSK noted.