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August 07, 2007
HPV Vaccine efficacy
Though nothing more needs to be said about the misguided effort pushing the HPV vaccine, I am in need of pushing the point.
GSK's new vaccine (only bivalent-two strains of HPV) received great support from a study published in Lancet. The study, designated PATRICIA (the Papilloma Trial to Prevent Cervical Cancer in Young Adults), was led by Dr. Paavonen, and others who are employees or on the payroll of the manufacturer. But don't get sidetracked by the improprieties.
Over 18,600 women, ages 15-25, from 14 countries, were studied for 15 months. Of those who received the vaccine, only 2 (of the 9,319) developed high-grade CIN associated with type 16 or 18. Of the other 9,325 women not given the vaccine 21 developed these high-grade lesions. So the vaccine is touted to have a 90% efficacy.
Note that it has not prevented cancer (that won't show up for a decade). Note that the enrollment criteria (who they let in the study) were tight, so this is not a generally applicable study. And note the high rate of side effects, which included joint and muscle aches as well as local effects.
But don't lose sight of the bigger context. This is a sexually transmitted disease. It only kills at lightning strike rates. And finding even "high-grade lesions" can lead to unnecessary procedures, worry, time and financial waste, and even further harm, with the high false positive rate.
| By Robert Maddox | 04:17 PM