The Philippines' Bureau of Food and Drugs on Wednesday approved Merck's human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil for use in the country, Cesar Recto, medical director for Merck, Sharp and Dohme said on Wednesday, the AP/BusinessWeek reports (Teves, AP/BusinessWeek, 11/29). According to Merck, the vaccine in clinical trials has been shown to be 100% effective in preventing HPV infection with strains 16 and 18, which together cause about 70% of cervical cancer cases, in women who do not already have the virus, and it is about 99% effective in preventing HPV strains 6 and 11, which together with strains 16 and 18 cause about 90% of genital wart cases. Gardasil also protects against vaginal and vulvar cancers, two other gynecological cancers that are linked to HPV, according to a study presented in June at a meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology in Atlanta (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 11/30). According to the Philippine Cancer Society, 7,277 cervical cancer cases were diagnosed in the country in 2005, and 3,807 deaths from the disease were recorded. Gardasil, which costs about $360 in the U.S. and is administered in three injections over six months, will cost about $306 in the Philippines and will be available only through doctors, according to a Merck, Sharp and Dohme spokesperson (AP/BusinessWeek, 11/29).

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