HPV innoculation protects against three cancers

Human Papillomavirus (HPV)

The inoculation against human papillomavirus was developed to protect against cervical cancer. Not the U.S. Food & Drug Administration has shown that it also protects against vaginal and vulval cancer. The vaccine is known as Gardasil.

The Food and Drug Administration has updated the label of Merck’s cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil, adding new information about its protective effects against two other gynecological cancers.

The new labeling indicates the vaccine also protects against cancers of the vagina and vulva, which affect more than 5,000 women in the U.S. each year, according to Merck….

Merck has already scaled back full-year sales estimates for Gardasil from between $1.9 billion and $2.1 billion to between $1.4 billion and $1.6 billion, following regulatory setbacks and challenges making inroads with young adult patients.

First approved in 2006, Gardasil is the only cervical cancer vaccine approved for the lucrative U.S. market, though Merck has had limited success expanding use.

Stages of cervical cancer