In what can only be seen as a huge bonus for Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK) and GlaxoSmithKline Plc's (NYSE:GSK) , the U.K government has announced that it will begin vaccinating all girls between the ages of 12 and 13 as of next September against human papilloma virus (HPV).
Marketed as Gardasil by Merck and Cervarix by GlaxoKlineSmith, both companies are competing for the government contract to immunize all those British school girls.
The vaccine is purported to be most effective on girls who have yet to begin their sexual lives but may also be beneficial to women aged 24 and older depending on their exposure to HPV and their level of sexual activity. The vaccine protects against 70 percent of HPV strains leaving 30% of the HPV strains unprevented and thus leaving a chance for cervical cancer.
The chief executive of Cancer Research UK, Harpal Kumar, said: "This is an exciting step towards preventing cervical cancer in the UK."
While only one of the two phramaceuticals will win the government contract, the publicity surrounding the U.K.governments choice to do the mass innoculation program can do nothing but bolster sales of both Gardasil and Cervarix.
[Source:FiercePharma]
» Merck's Gardasil for HPV Protects Older Women Also from PharmaGazette
Merck & Co. (NYSE:MRK) released a study that its Gardasil HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccine may offer protection to women over the current FDA approved age range of 9 to 26.The study, which consisted of 3,800 women between the ages of... [Read More]
Tracked on: November 5, 2007 10:16 AM | Permalink to Trackback