Positive results from HPV vaccine trials continue
Encouraging results continue to emerge from trials of vaccines that target
the human papillomavirus (HPV) types associated with 70 per cent of cervical cancers and 90 per cent of genital warts (PJ, 14
May, p577).
The latest data for Gardasil (quadrivalent HPV 6, 11, 16, 18 recombinant
vaccine; Sanofi Pasteur MSD) were presented at the European
Cancer Conference in Paris last week. A meta-analysis of four trials (including one in
which women were given monovalent HPV 16 vaccine and three in which women
were given quadrivalent HPV vaccine, or placebo) showed the vaccines
to be highly effective. Vaccine was given at day 1, month 2 and month
6, and follow up was for a maximum of 48 months. In a per protocol analysis
of 8,487 women the vaccines were 100 per cent effective against high-grade
cervical pre-cancers (95 per cent confidence interval 93–100; P<0.001).
In an intention to treat analysis of 9,342 women (who may have become
infected with HPV 16 or 18 during the vaccination period and had violated
the study protocol) they were 99 per cent effective in preventing high-grade
cervical pre-cancers (93–100; P<0.001).
Also presented at the conference were data from GlaxoSmithKline’s
HPV vaccine, Cervarix. Results from tests of the vaccine formulated with
an innovative adjuvant (AS04), rather than with a conventional aluminium
salt adjuvant, showed it induced a stronger antibody response, which
persisted for longer. Antibody levels remained higher for over three
years and were significantly higher for the first 1.5 years. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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