Study shows the vaccine Cervarix effectively protects women from the human papillomavirus, the leading cause of cervical cancer, for up to 6 years. 700 women were screened for 6.4 years. Cervarix not only protected participants from HPV-16 and HPV-18 as it was designed, but it also protected against HPV-31 and HPV-45, two additional strains of the virus that are responsible for 10 percent of cervical cancer cases. The vaccine was 100 percent effective against cervical intraepitheleal neoplasia (CIN) or the growth of abnormal cells on the cervix. Annual PAP tests screen for CIN, and abnormal cells result in the diagnosis of cervical dysplasia. CIN is often a precursor to cervical cancer. The fact that the placebo group had numerous occurrences of CIN indicates that the study group as a whole was continuously exposed to HPV.
Cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death of women in the U.S next to breast cancer. Data collected in 2002 suggests that there are about 270,000 deaths from cervical cancer each year.
HPV vaccines are relatively new. Cervarix manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in October of 2009. You've probably heard of Gardasil or Silgard, an alternative vaccine, by Merck & Co. which is also approved for use in males for protection from genital warts. A similar study of Gardasil shows it protects women from HPV for up to 5 years. Researchers expect future research to ensure more years of HPV protection, but at this point there is just not enough data.
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