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© Oxford University Press 2006.
NEWS |
Coming Soon: Cervical Cancer Vaccines, and an Array of Public Health Issues
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
One vaccine to prevent cervical cancer could be available in just months and another may come next year as regulatory agencies begin their reviews of the two candidates. Both vaccines use virus-like particles (VLPs) to block infection with human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18, which cause most cervical cancers (see box, p. 432).
The vaccine furthest along is Gardasil, a product of Merck & Co., Whitehouse Station, N.J., which expects a decision on its licensure application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by June 8. U.K.-based GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is submitting its vaccine, Cervarix, to the European regulatory agency in the first half of this year and to the FDA at the end of this year. Both drugs have proven effective in clinical trials.
But it's not only regulatory agencies that are scrutinizing the vaccines. Their imminent availability has spotlighted some major public health issues surrounding them,
The Vaccines and the Trials
Whom Else To Vaccinate?
Screening Impact
Second-Generation Vaccines