U.N. CALLS FOR FUNDING TO PROVIDE CERVICAL CANCER VACCINE TO DEVELOPING WORLD

Funding to provide cervical cancer vaccines to women in the developing world must be a priority, as the majority of the 250,000 women who died from the disease last year lived in those countries, U.N. health officials announced.

With an effective delivery system, new vaccines against HPV could save hundreds of thousands of lives, Howard Zucker, the World Health Organization's (WHO) assistant director, said in the Dec. 12 announcement. Ninety percent of the 500,000 new cervical cancer cases in 2005 were in developing countries, according to the WHO.

U.N. health officials stressed the need for international partnerships to reduce the delay between formal registration and availability in developing countries. They also recommended establishing a set negotiated price and a sufficient production capacity for supplying developing countries.

Gardasil, manufactured by Merck, is currently the only vaccine approved to prevent cervical cancer and cervical, vulvar and vaginal precancers caused by HPV types 16 and 18. It is also approved to prevent genital warts and low-grade cervical lesions caused by HPV types 6, 11, 16 and 18. The FDA approved the vaccine June 8.