It looks like Gardasil may not just be for girls anymore: a Phase III study of Merck's HPV vaccine found that the jab prevented 90 percent of external genital lesions caused by the disease men aged 16 to 26. In a study of 4,000 men, only three subjects who got the shot developed lesions; there were 31 cases in the placebo group. Gardasil prevents lesions caused by types 6, 11, 16 and 18
Merck said that the company remains on track to submit an sBLA for Gardasil for use in men by the end of 2008. The findings were presented at the European Research Organization on Genital Infection and Neoplasia (EUROGIN) International Multidisciplinary Conference.
- see Merck's release
- read the WSJ blog post