The Bureau of Foods and Drugs (BFAD) recently approved MerckSharp & Dohme’s (MSD) quadrivalent human papillomavirus (types 6, 11, 16, 18) recombinant vaccine for use in women up to 45 years old. The MSD cervical cancer vaccine is now indicated for girls and women age nine to 45. The vaccine prevented 91-percent persistent infection, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (any grade), and external genital lesions caused by HPV types 6, 11, 16, and 18 compared with placebo (sugar pill), in women aged 24 through 45, according to new data presented during a press conference in Manila.
The primarily results evaluated women, approximately one third (31 percent) of which were from Asia (Philippines and Thailand) who were free of infection from at least one vaccine HPV type and who remain free of infection with the relevant HPV type(s) until they completed the three-dose vaccination regimen. This is according to Dr. Ricardo Manalastas, Jr. of the UP-Philippine General Hospital and who lead clinical investigation the Philippines.
Women are at significant risk for acquiring HPV infections and developing HPC-related disease throughout their lifetime.
In the Philippines, 2005 data showed that there were reported 7,277 new cases and 3,807 deaths due to cervical cancer. It meant that at least 10 Filipino women die each day of cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is most likely to develop among women 35 years or older. If not detected and treated early, cervical cancer could be fatal, according to Dr. Efren Domingo, the president of the Asia-Oceana Research Organization in Genital Infection and Neoplasia (AOGIN) and who also lead clinical investigator in the Philippines. A study by the University of the Philippines-Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) found that less than 40 percent of Filipino women had ever had a Pap smear. Women who are in the prime of their lives need to be protected from HPV that continues to infect about half of all people at some point in their lives.
There are ways a person can reduce his or her risk of infection by staying in a long-term, mutually monogamous relationship with an uninfected partner or limiting the number of sexual partners, practicing protected sex using condoms, in particular but the level of protection from HPV infection with condom use has not yet been determined; refrain from any sexual genital contact with someone who has the virus; and women should talk to their doctors about having regular Pap screening tests and discuss results with them. But the more recent effective way is vaccination. Since cervical cancer is caused by a virus, vaccines work well in preventing the infection.
The MSD cervical cancer vaccine was approved by the Bureau of Food and Drugs in October 2006 and is now indicated for children and adolescents nine through 17 years of age and women 18 through 45 years of age for the prevention of cervical, vulvar, and vaginal cancers; precancerous or dysplastic lesions; genital warts; and infections caused by human papillomavirus (HPV).
The MSD cervical cancer vaccine has been approved in more than 12 countries, including the United States, the 27 countries of the European Union, Mexico, Australia, Taiwan, Canada, Philippines, New Zealand, and Brazil.
written by admin
\\ tags: cervical cancer, HEALTH, vaccine