Indian women to receive Gardasil protection for cervical cancer

New Delhi, October 15: Finally making its way to India, the world’s worst affected nation with an estimated 74,000 deaths from cervical cancerdefine each year, the manufacturer, Merck Sharp and Dohme (MSD), a wholly owned subsidiary of pharma major Merck and Co. Inc., launched the world’s first cervical cancer vaccine, Gardasil, in India.

The condition most common in India where, out of more than 130,000 women diagnosed with it every year, nearly 74,000 succumb to the disease. According to the World Health Organization, the risk of the cancerdefine in India is 2.4 percent compared with an average of 1.3 percent for the world.

As the prostaglandins hormonesdefine present in a man’s semen prop up the chances of growth of cervical cancer in his female partner, the vaccine helps prevent cervical cancer caused by unprotected sexual activity.

Designed to be administered to females between the age group 9 to 26, in the course of three injections, the vaccine promises 100 per cent protection against the human papilloma virus (HPV) which is known to activate the disease in a majority of cases.

Each dose is estimated to cost about Rs. 2,800 in India.

Human Papilloma Virus

Human Papilloma Virus (HPV), the most common sexually transmitted virus, passes onto the female partner through unprotected sexual activity.
The HPV infection is the leading cause of developing cervical and uterine cancers in women.

The vaccine targets four strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV) namely, type 6, type 11, type 16 and type 18. While the HPV of type 6 and type 11 together accounts for almost 70 percent of cervical cancer cases, the types 16 and 18 are responsible for causing about 90 percent of genital growths.

Though the vaccine promises protection to women who haven't yet been infected by any of the targeted strains, it however, cannot stop the growth of pre-existing infections.