For HPV vaccine, one dose goes a long way

For HPV vaccine, one dose goes a long way -

The recommended dose for the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine Cervarix may be exaggerated in some quarters, according to a new analysis. The vaccine, which prevents certain types of cervical cancer, has seen poor adoption, particularly in developing countries. There, the planned series of three injections is a financial and logistical burden for those without easy access to health care. But a new analysis of the two efficacy trials sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and the maker of Cervarix, GlaxoSmithKline, suggests that even one dose confers roughly the same protection against the virus after 4 years as two or three doses do. Women in the trial who missed two doses of Cervarix followed saw even a protection rate of 85.7% against HPV types 16 and 18, strains that account for 70% of cervical cancers and for which Cervarix has been designed. But three doses were more effective than one or two to prevent several types of HPV-31 carcinogens less common, 33 and 45. Two doses separated by at least 6 months apart appeared to have the same effect as three. In a commentary that ran today in the paper The Lancet , Julia Brotherton of the national immunization against HPV registry Australia to Melbourne-who was not involved in the work program that the finding "opens a great opportunity to expand the scope of protection ... to more people than we ever thought possible."

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