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Vaccine Trial Shows Cervical-Cancer Advance
Wall Street JournalD6
06/28/2007
Preliminary data from a large study of GlaxoSmithKline's cervical cancer vaccine Cervarix indicate that it is nearly 100 percent effective at stopping advanced precancerous lesions caused by the most common cancer-causing virus types from forming. Cervarix targets human papillomavirus types 16 and 18, which cause over 70 percent of cervical cancer cases. Interim findings in the ongoing phase III study of more than 18,000 women in 14 countries show that the vaccine provided significant cross-protection against persistent infection from virus types 45, 31, and 52. The research will be published today on the Web site of The Lancet. An editorial comment accompanying the study said there are limitations to the encouraging data, considering the short follow-up period of the study.
