Second HPV vaccine okayed by FDA

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved a second vaccine designed to protect against cervical cancer and setting up a pharmaceutical competition.

Cervarix, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, was designed as prevention against cervical cancer and pre-cancerous lesions caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18. The FDA approved it for use in females 15 to 25 and it will be administered in three doses. The second and third shots are to be given six months after the initial dose.

Cervarix will target types 16 and 18 of HPV, which are the two leading causes of cervical cancer. During clinical trials it was shown to be 93 percent effective in preventing cervical pre-cancers associated with the HPV 16 and HPV 18 strains in women who showed no previous evidence of current or past infection, according to GlaxoSmithKline.

Many women are exposed to cancer-causing HPVs in their teens or early 20s.
An FDA committee recommended approval of Cervarix in September. The official okay Friday means Cervarix will compete against Merck and Company’s Gardasil, which was approved in 2006 and has been shown to work against HPV types 11, 16 and 18.

GlaxoSmithKline said Cervarix should be available late this year