Glaxo Vaccine Works Against Cervical-Cancer Virus In A Study
GlaxoSmithKline Plc's experimental vaccine was effective against a virus that causes cervical cancer in a study, the first to show the treatment may provide protection against the No. 2 cause of cancer death among women.
The vaccine, called Cervarix, was 100 percent effective for as long as two years among 366 women who received all doses according to schedule, according to a company-funded study published in the British medical journal Lancet. That compares with 16 infections among 355 women given placebos.
The findings are behind Glaxo's decision, announced Oct. 28, to file for regulatory approval of Cervarix two years ahead of schedule, competing with Merck & Co. to be first to market with a cervical cancer vaccine. Glaxo, Europe's biggest drugmaker, is studying the vaccine in a trial of 13,000 women and plans to seek European approval in 2006. Merck has said it plans to file for U.S. approval of its vaccine in the second half of 2005.