Yay

[Qwikshot]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/condi....ap/index.html

[QuikSand]

The more we learn about cancer, the more likely it becomes that the lay person's wishes for a "cure for cancer" will not come about as a result of one blockbuster invention or discovery (like vaccines for other diseases in the past) but rather piece by piece, step by step, type by type, along these lines.

Wonderful news.

[judicial clerk]

I'm going to change my recommendation on Merck from hold to buy.

[JeeberD]

Awesome news...

[gottimd]

Can someone copy and paste the article in here, CNN for some reason is stalling when I try to load it.

[JeeberD]

TRENTON, New Jersey (AP) -- The first major study of an experimental vaccine to prevent cervical cancer found it was 100 percent effective, in the short term, at blocking the disease and lesions likely to turn cancerous, drug maker Merck & Co. said.

Gardasil, a genetically engineered vaccine, blocks infection with two of the 100-plus types of human papilloma virus, HPV 16 and 18. The two sexually transmitted viruses together cause about 70 percent of cervical cancers.

Other types of HPV also can cause cervical cancer and painful genital warts. About 20 million Americans have some form of HPV.

The final-stage study of Gardasil included 10,559 sexually active women ages 16 to 26 in the United States and 12 other countries who were not infected with HPV 16 or 18. Half got three vaccine doses over six months; half got dummy shots.

Among those still virus-free after the six months, none who received the vaccine developed cervical cancer or precancerous lesions over an average two years of follow-up, compared with 21 who got dummy shots.

"To have 100 percent efficacy is something that you have very rarely," Dr. Eliav Barr, Merck's head of clinical development for Gardasil, told The Associated Press. "We're breaking out the champagne."

The study, which was funded by Merck, was to be presented Friday at a meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America.

A second analysis, including hundreds more women participating in the ongoing study, showed that after just one dose the vaccine was 97 percent effective. That analysis found only one of the 5,736 women who got the vaccine developed cervical cancer or precancerous lesions, compared with 36 among the 5,766 who got dummy shots.

Barr said the 97 percent rate was more "real world," given that patients sometimes miss or delay follow-up shots or tests.

"I see this as a phenomenal breakthrough," said Dr. Gloria Bachmann, director of The Women's Health Institute at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick.

Bachmann said diagnosis of infection leaves women anxious over the heightened risk of cervical cancer and raises questions among couples about infidelity and prior sexual activity.

"You have to get students in grammar school, middle school, high school (vaccinated) before they become sexually active," she said.

Cervical cancer is the second-most common cancer in women and their No. 2 cause of cancer deaths, resulting in about 3,000 deaths in the United States and nearly 300,000 around the world each year. At least half of sexually active men and women become infected with genital HPV at some point.

The immune system clears most such infections in a year or two, but several types of HPV can persist, cause cervical cancer or trigger other cancers in the genital area. There is no cure for HPV, but the cancers can be treated and an improved Pap test is catching more cervical cancer before it has spread.

Whitehouse Station-based Merck, hammered by slumping revenues and profits and facing roughly 5,000 lawsuits over its withdrawn painkiller Vioxx, is seeking to beat rival drug maker GlaxoSmithKline to market with the first cervical cancer vaccine.

GlaxoSmithKline did not return a call seeking comment, but has published research showing its vaccine against HPV 16 and 18 prevents persistent HPV infection. The Merck vaccine also reduces infection with HPV 6 and 11, which cause 90 percent of genital warts cases.

Merck plans by year's end to seek Food and Drug Administration approval to sell its vaccine for use by girls and young women.

"If all goes well, sometime in 2006 it should be on the market," Barr said.

Merck is continuing research on Gardasil and will soon report on four years of follow-up on women in the current study. The company also will explore whether the vaccine's effectiveness wanes over time. Barr noted that some women in the study developed dangerous precancerous lesions caused by HPV types other than 16 and 18.

[gottimd]

Thanks Jeebs.

[Butter]

Isn't the problem with this that if they cure every type of cancer with a vaccine, that you'll have dozens or even hundreds of different vaccines out there? I imagine a lot of people would be more than willing to take 50 shots of all sorts of different vaccines in order to stop every single type of cancer. But then you've got all sorts of possible interaction or allergy nightmares to worry about.

And then there's the whole question about how long is too long for human longevity? Would curing cancer create a serious overpopulation crisis, especially in Asia?

That's about as far as I'm willing to think about this right now.

[Qwikshot]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

Isn't the problem with this that if they cure every type of cancer with a vaccine, that you'll have dozens or even hundreds of different vaccines out there? I imagine a lot of people would be more than willing to take 50 shots of all sorts of different vaccines in order to stop every single type of cancer. But then you've got all sorts of possible interaction or allergy nightmares to worry about.

And then there's the whole question about how long is too long for human longevity? Would curing cancer create a serious overpopulation crisis, especially in Asia?

That's about as far as I'm willing to think about this right now.

That's what the moon is for.

[cuervo72]

This may be a bit off-topic but I also browsed this link while on CNN:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/condi....ap/index.html

Of note:

The researchers also refined their focus on one gene, the HA gene, that encodes the hemagglutinin surface protein that help the virus attach to cells and multiply. The 1918 virus is deadly with the HA gene, but when the gene was replaced, it was not virulent, Tumpey said.

Those damned virulent HA genes....

[John Galt]

Just to ruin a perfectly good story, the Family Research Council is opposing the new vaccine because it might encourage people to have sex. From the New Scientist:

In the US, for instance, religious groups are gearing up to oppose vaccination, despite a survey showing 80 per cent of parents favour vaccinating their daughters. "Abstinence is the best way to prevent HPV," says Bridget Maher of the Family Research Council, a leading Christian lobby group that has made much of the fact that, because it can spread by skin contact, condoms are not as effective against HPV as they are against other viruses such as HIV.

"Giving the HPV vaccine to young women could be potentially harmful, because they may see it as a licence to engage in premarital sex," Maher claims, though it is arguable how many young women have even heard of the virus.


http://cmbi.bjmu.edu.cn/news/0504/75.htm

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by John Galt

Just to ruin a perfectly good story, the Family Research Council is opposing the new vaccine because it might encourage people to have sex. From the New Scientist:

In the US, for instance, religious groups are gearing up to oppose vaccination, despite a survey showing 80 per cent of parents favour vaccinating their daughters. "Abstinence is the best way to prevent HPV," says Bridget Maher of the Family Research Council, a leading Christian lobby group that has made much of the fact that, because it can spread by skin contact, condoms are not as effective against HPV as they are against other viruses such as HIV.

"Giving the HPV vaccine to young women could be potentially harmful, because they may see it as a licence to engage in premarital sex," Maher claims, though it is arguable how many young women have even heard of the virus.


http://cmbi.bjmu.edu.cn/news/0504/75.htm

I like the idea that there are young women who are willing to ignore the risks of HIV, pregnancy, low-self esteem, Hep. C., etc. and have sex anyway. But it is the fear of papilloma that keeps them chaste.