New human papillomavirus vaccine is effective
A new vaccine has been shown to be effective against incident and persistent cervical infections with two important oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) types (The
Lancet 2004;364:1757).
The randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial assessed the effectiveness
of a bivalent HPV16/18 virus-like particle vaccine. HPV16 accounts for
more than 60 per cent of cervical
cancers and HPV18 for around 10 per cent, so an effective vaccine could
help prevent development of up to 70 per cent of cervical cancers worldwide.
In an intention-to-treat analysis, the vaccine was 95.1 per cent effective
against persistent cervical infection and 92.9 per cent effective against
cytological abnormalities associated with infection.
In a commentary in the same issue (ibid, p1731), Matti Lehtinen and Jorma
Paavonen of the University of Helsinki argue that the vaccine will probably
be the first licensed vaccine against a common sexually transmitted infection.
They also say that while it is encouraging that the vaccine protects
against the endpoints used in the study, long-term follow-up studies
will be needed to prove that the vaccine protects against invasive cervical
cancer itself, as well as the clinical manifestations of infection.
Questions, such as how to guarantee high coverage among adolescents who
are not yet sexually active, will need to be answered before implementing
any HPV vaccination programmes, they say. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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