Wall Street Journal Examines Potential Use Of Gardasil Among Young Men

Main Category: Cervical Cancer / HPV Vaccine
Also Included In: Men's health
Article Date: 05 Feb 2009 - 5:00 PDT

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The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday examined the potential use of Merck's human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil among young men. The vaccine currently is approved for use in girls and women ages nine to 26 to prevent four types of HPV infections -- two of which can lead to cervical cancer in women and two of which can lead to genital warts in both sexes. Merck recently applied for approval of the vaccine for use in young men in the same age range, which would double the vaccine's target population. In addition to cervical cancer among women, HPV can cause penile and other rare cancers in men. In addition, vaccinating men against HPV could reduce the chance that men would transmit the virus to a sexual partner. Despite FDA's decision not to approve Gardasil for use in older women, many industry experts believe the agency will approve the vaccine for use in young men.

According to a recent Merck-funded study on the use of Gardasil among young men, the vaccine reduces external genital lesions caused by the targeted HPV strains by about 90%. The study also found no cases of penile or related cancer among either the placebo or vaccine group; however, these cancers can sometimes take years to develop, according to the Journal. In addition, the researchers have not yet completed an evaluation of whether Gardasil prevents precancerous anal lesions among men who have sex with men, and Merck has not examined whether the vaccine can prevent certain head and neck cancers HPV causes.

Amanda Dempsey, professor of pediatrics and communicable diseases at the University of Michigan who has studied Gardasil, said it is possible that genital warts -- which are the least serious consequence of HPV -- could present the most convincing reason for young men to be vaccinated. According to Dempsey, the warts can cause stress and "psychological burden" for people who have them. Vaccinating young men against HPV also could create "herd immunity," which would reduce the transmission of HPV among the general population, the Journal reports. Mark Goldstein, chief of adolescent and young adult medicine at MassGeneral Hospital for Children, said that this is the "responsibility piece: that I should be immunized because not only should I protect myself, but I will not be able to give it to my partner."

However, some people might be skeptical about the use of Gardasil among young men, particularly because the vaccine costs at least $360 and targets relatively rare male cancers and genital warts, which are not life-threatening. Ranit Mishori, physician and faculty member at Georgetown School of Medicine, said she supports the use of Gardasil for men but added that she expects "greater resistance to giving it to boys than to girls." Catherine Arnold, Credit Suisse analyst, said she predicts the male market for Gardasil will total about $100 million for 2012, or about 14% of the total U.S. sales predicted that year. According to Arnold, U.S. sales of the vaccine currently run at about $1.1 billion annually (Loftus, Wall Street Journal, 2/4).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

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