Lyon, 27th February 2008 – Sanofi Pasteur MSD welcomes the decision by the health authorities in Sweden to recommend free vaccination of girls in school to protect them against cervical cancer and other human papillomavirus (HPV)-related genital diseases.
“This is great news for the girls in Sweden,” comments Didier Hoch, president of Sanofi Pasteur MSD. “We hope that vaccination programmes will be implemented quickly, so girls women could soon have full access to these programmes that will help save lives and protect girls’ and women’s health from cervical cancer and other HPV-related genital diseases.”
Yesterday, the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen) recommended universal free vaccination of girls in school years five and six (aged 10-12 years) through the school health service. According to the administrative procedure in Sweden, this recommendation is now open for referral with final confirmation expected in April 2008 and implementation at county level from autumn 2008.
In May 2007, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Board in Sweden had included Gardasil® in the national Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme for girls aged 13-17 years, marking the first time that the Board granted a vaccine reimbursement status.2 The reimbursement enables catch up vaccination of girls aged 13-17 years in addition to the now recommended free routine vaccination girls aged 12 at school.
Thirteen Western European countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxemburg, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom) have already recommended routine human papillomavirus vaccination for pre-adolescents girls, often coupled with catch-up programmes for adolescent girls and young women. Similar recommendations were made in the United States, Canada and Australia.3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17 In eleven of these countries (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxemburg, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom), reimbursement or funding is already in place or has been announced for 2008.
Gardasil® is a quadrivalent (6,11,16,18) HPV vaccine that can help prevent cervical cancer and other HPV-related genital diseases, including precancerous cervical and vulvar lesions and genital warts caused by the virus types targeted by the vaccine.
Gardasil® has been approved in 93 countries worldwide and has met with great recognition from experts, health authorities and physicians. More than 20 million doses were distributed worldwide until the end of December 2007.
