Make cervical cancer vaccine available to Asian women, experts say

MACTAN CITY (AP) — Women in the Asia—Pacific region are desperately in need of a new vaccine that could decrease the incidence of cervical cancer by 70 percent, and governments and drug makers should reduce the cost of the expensive medicine, health experts said.

About 266,000 women in the region are stricken with cervical cancer each year — more than half of the total number of women afflicted worldwide — and 143,000 die each year, experts at a conference in the Philippines said Saturday.

"This is a silent killer because it may take up to 10 years before symptoms start to appear, and by then the disease has progressed to an advanced stage," said Hextan Ngan, an authority on cervical cancer from the University of Hong Kong.

Worldwide, more than 500,000 women, usually in their 30s or 40s, are stricken by the disease annually and without significant improvements in prevention, it is estimated that by 2020 more than one million new cases will emerge each year, according to participants in the Asia—Oceania Research Organization in Genital Infection and Neoplasia, or AOGIN.

Gardasil, the first vaccine against cervical cancer, is considered to be highly effective against four types of the human papillomavirus, or HPV, including two that cause about 70 percent of cervical cancers.

In June, the US government approved a series of three shots of Gardasil for females aged 9 to 26. The shots, to be given over a six—month period, cost $360. About 3,700 deaths from cervical cancer occur in the United States each year.

Ian Frazer, director for the Center for Immunology and Cancer Research at the University of Queensland in Australia and one of the experts who worked on the vaccine, said he has urged drug companies to sell it at a lower price in developing countries, and "their response to that has been favorable."

Merck & Co. currently markets Gardasil in seven countries, and GlaxoSmithKline has developed a second candidate vaccine.

"They recognize that it is unlikely that countries in this region will be able to afford vaccine at the same cost as the United States," he said in an interview. "On the other hand, they also have to be realistic and say that they can’t reduce the cost below the cost of actually making the vaccine."

Frazer said the World Health Organization should adopt the vaccine for routine use, and charitable organizations and richer countries should contribute resources to make the vaccine accessible in the Asia—Pacific region.

He said countries with limited funds for health care would have difficulty prioritizing funding for a vaccine from which benefits won’t be seen for 20 to 30 years.

"It would be a great shame if the opportunity were lost to protect a generation of women from this virus," he added.

Michael Quinn, an officer of the International Gynecological Cancer Society, said AOGIN will soon organize a meeting with drug companies and charitable groups to discuss how to get the vaccine to women in poorer nations.

The vaccine "is undoubtedly expensive and what we need to do is get the message across that for developing countries who can’t afford it, the price needs to come down, and I think that would happen," Quinn said.