Study: Gardasil protects women from HPV for more than 8 years

MALMO, Sweden A vaccine for human papillomavirus protected women from the HPV 16 strain for an average of more than eight years after they received it, according to clinical study data.

A 290-patient phase 2 study of Merck’s HPV vaccine Gardasil (human papillomavirus quadrivalent [types 6, 11, 16, 18] vaccine, recombinant) was effective for eight and a half years after administration in women who had not received Gardasil’s HPV 16 component.

In another study, of girls and women aged 16 to 26 naive to 14 common types of HPV, Gardasil reduced the number of abnormal Pap test results by 17% to 45%, also reducing colposcopies by 20%, cervical biopsies by 22% and invasive treatments such as surgery by 42%.

“We are encouraged by the extended efficacy data for the HPV 16 component of Gardasil,” University of Washington public health professor and lead study author Laura Koutsky said. “Studies to examine the long-term efficacy of Gardasil are underway.”

HPV types 16 and 18 cause about 70% of cervical cancer cases, while types 6 and 11 cause about 90% of genital warts and about 10% of low-grade cervical changes, lesions and dysplasias.