Merck To Donate Three Million Doses Of HPV Vaccine Gardasil To Developing Countries

Main Category: Cervical Cancer / HPV Vaccine
Also Included In: Aid / Disasters
Article Date: 01 Oct 2007 - 7:00 PDT

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Merck on Wednesday at the third annual Clinton Global Initiative conference in New York City announced that it will donate at least three million doses of its human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil to developing countries, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports (Stark, Philadelphia Inquirer, 9/27). Gardasil in clinical trials has been shown to be 100% effective in preventing infection with HPV strains 16 and 18, which together cause about 70% of cervical cancer cases, and about 99% effective in preventing HPV strains 6 and 11, which together with HPV strains 16 and 18 cause about 90% of genital wart cases among women not already infected with these strains (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 9/20).

About 500,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer annually, and about 80% of the cases and deaths are among women in developing countries because of limited screening and treatment (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 7/11). Merck said it plans to partner with a nongovernmental organization to establish a program to distribute the vaccine over the next five years, the AP/Google.com reports. Merck said the donation will enable one million women to be vaccinated.

Merck "is fully committed to making Gardasil available to those who need it," Margaret McGlynn, head of Merck Vaccines and Infectious Diseases, said in a statement (Johnson, AP/Google.com, 9/26). She added that Merck "will continue to work with [its] partners in the international community to develop sustainable solutions to bring Gardasil and other vaccines to the developing world" (Merck release, 9/26). Merck executives estimated the value of the donation at $375.5 million, based on U.S. prices for the vaccine (Philadelphia Inquirer, 9/27).

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