Absinthe d'Accalia
11-02-2004, 10:04 AM
This is great news!!!
Cervical cancer vaccine effective
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE
Associated Press
Published on: 11/01/04
WASHINGTON — Efforts to develop a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer took a step forward Monday, with test results suggesting that a vaccine now in development can provide long-lasting protection.
Four years after getting the vaccine, 94 percent of women tested were protected from infection by the virus that causes most cervical cancers, and none had developed precancerous conditions, a study showed.
"The immune responses seem to be really long-lasting," said Dr. Eliav Barr, who leads development of the vaccine for Merck & Co. The company plans to seek U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval next year for an expanded version of the vaccine that also could be used to prevent genital warts in both women and men.
The new study was funded by Merck and led by University of Washington researchers, who presented results Monday at a meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.
If the vaccine makes it to market, it would be the second developed to prevent cancer. The hepatitis B vaccine has dramatically reduced the number of infections that progress to liver cancer.
Cervical cancer strikes nearly a half-million women worldwide each year and kills about half of them. In the United States, about 15,000 women get it, and about 5,000 die.
Virtually all cases are caused by infection with human papilloma virus, or HPV, which is spread through sex. One strain, HPV-16, accounts for about half of all cervical cancers.
A previous study showed that HPV-16 infections were completely prevented in 768 women who had received the vaccine 18 months earlier.
The new study followed 755 of these women for four years after vaccination. HPV-16 infections had taken hold in seven; none developed precancers. In a comparison group of 750 women who received dummy shots, infections took hold in 111 and precancers formed in 12.
Cervical cancer vaccine effective
By MARILYNN MARCHIONE
Associated Press
Published on: 11/01/04
WASHINGTON — Efforts to develop a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer took a step forward Monday, with test results suggesting that a vaccine now in development can provide long-lasting protection.
Four years after getting the vaccine, 94 percent of women tested were protected from infection by the virus that causes most cervical cancers, and none had developed precancerous conditions, a study showed.
"The immune responses seem to be really long-lasting," said Dr. Eliav Barr, who leads development of the vaccine for Merck & Co. The company plans to seek U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval next year for an expanded version of the vaccine that also could be used to prevent genital warts in both women and men.
The new study was funded by Merck and led by University of Washington researchers, who presented results Monday at a meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.
If the vaccine makes it to market, it would be the second developed to prevent cancer. The hepatitis B vaccine has dramatically reduced the number of infections that progress to liver cancer.
Cervical cancer strikes nearly a half-million women worldwide each year and kills about half of them. In the United States, about 15,000 women get it, and about 5,000 die.
Virtually all cases are caused by infection with human papilloma virus, or HPV, which is spread through sex. One strain, HPV-16, accounts for about half of all cervical cancers.
A previous study showed that HPV-16 infections were completely prevented in 768 women who had received the vaccine 18 months earlier.
The new study followed 755 of these women for four years after vaccination. HPV-16 infections had taken hold in seven; none developed precancers. In a comparison group of 750 women who received dummy shots, infections took hold in 111 and precancers formed in 12.