Gardasil May Prevent Genital Warts In Males
Seattle – The U.S. Drug maker Merck announced on Thursday that studies on its Gardasil vaccine against human papilloma virus (HPV) showed that it was promising to prevent external genital lesions in men.
Gardasil prevented 90% of external genital lesions caused by HPV types 6, 11, 16 and 18 in a Phase III study conducted in men 16 to 26 years said Merck.
“This opens up some really important questions for further research,” Anna Giuliano of the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Tampa, Florida Giuliano, tells the AP. “The cancers in men which are HPV related are really only now being understood.”
The drug maker said however that more studies are needed and the regulatory agencies that receive other data later.
Merck plans to ask at the end of the year the authorization of the U.S. Agency for the Control of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use of Gardasil in males of between 9 and 26 years.
Currently, the vaccine is only approved for girls in the United States.
Gardasil is so far recommended for girls between 9 to 26 years to protect them from infection from four types of papilloma virus linked to cancer of the uterus, or the origin of ano-genital warts and cancers of the vagina.
HPV infections are attributed to those that are transmitted more frequently in the United States.
Some 6.2 million Americans are infected each year by these viruses and more than half of all sexually active men and women become infected at some point in their lives in the United States, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of Disease ( CDC).
The study was conducted with 3400 heterosexual men between 16 and 23 years and 600 homosexuals from 16 to 26 years, who received three doses of Gardasil or placebo.
What a crock of crep- these big pharma companies must think we are all brain dead or something. Nothing but a ridiculous ploy to sell more vaccine.