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By Pushkala Aripaka
Nov 3 (Reuters) - Young women who were vaccinated against
human papillomavirus (HPV) in their teens with an older
GlaxoSmithKline product called Cervarix had up to an 87%
lower risk of developing cervical cancer linked to the virus, a
long-running English study found.
When the vaccinated women were in their 20s, those who had
received the series of shots between ages 12 and 13 had cervical
cancer rates that were 87% lower than unvaccinated women who had
been screened for the malignancy.
The cancer rate was 62% lower when the shots were given
between ages 14 and 16 and reduced by 34% in women vaccinated
between ages 16 and 18, researchers reported in The Lancet
medical journal.
Rates of a precancerous condition were reduced by 97% when
the shots were given at ages 12 and 13, the study also found.
The findings "should greatly reassure those still hesitant
about the benefits of HPV vaccination," the researchers said.
The study, funded by Cancer Research UK, looked at registry
data from January 2006 to June 2019 on women who had been
screened for cervical cancer between ages 20 and 64, including
women who received the Cervarix vaccine after it became
available in 2008.
During the nearly 13-year period, roughly 28,000 diagnoses
of cervical cancer and 300,000 diagnoses of a precancerous
condition called cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN3) were
recorded in England, data showed.
The young women who were vaccinated had around 450 fewer
cases of cervical cancers and 17,200 fewer cases of CIN3 than
expected in unvaccinated women of the same age.
"We hope that these new results encourage uptake as the
success of the vaccination programme relies not only on the
efficacy of the vaccine but also the proportion of the
population vaccinated," said coauthor Kate Soldan of the UK
Health Security Agency.
Cervarix, developed by GSK, protects against two HPV types
that are responsible for roughly 70% to 80% of all cervical
cancers.
Since September 2012, Merck & Co's quadrivalent
vaccine Gardasil, which protects against four HPV types linked
to cervical and head and neck cancers, has been used in England
instead of Cervarix.
GSK also stopped selling Cervarix in the United States due
low demand with Gardasil dominating the world's most lucrative
market.
Cervical cancer is rare in young women. Follow-up as women
grow older is needed to fully assess the vaccines' impact.
(Reporting by Pushkala Aripaka in Bengaluru; Editing by Nancy
Lapid and Bill Berkrot)
