Israeli doctor heads Merck team that has developed vaccine against cervical cancer

ISRAEL21c ^ | June 14, 2006 | Staff

[veronica]

An Israeli-born doctor stands at the head of team from pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. Inc. who announced this week the FDA approval of the first vaccine to prevent cervical cancer

Senior director of Clinical Research, Merck Research Laboratories Dr. Eliav Barr, originally from Haifa, said about bout the genetically engineered vaccine Gardasil, "This is the first time we have been able to state that administration of the vaccine is going to have an effect on cervical cancer."

In the United States, almost 10,000 women develop cervical cancer each year, leading to 3,000 deaths. In the developing world, the problem is far worse, probably because women are less likely to get screenings that can catch unusual growths before they become cancerous. Worldwide, cervical cancer kills 300,000 women a year.

Almost all the cases of cervical cancer are caused by infection with the human papilloma virus, or HPV, which causes normal cells to multiply out of control. Some strains of HPV lead to cancer (two strains account for 70% of cervical cancers), and others cause genital warts.

Because cervical cancer does not occur in women who have not contracted HPV, Merck, under Barr's guidance, has developed what is essentially the world's first cancer vaccine.

Public health experts called the Gardasil vaccine a major advance against the disease. "This vaccine is a significant advance in the protection of women's health in that it strikes at the infections that are the root cause of many cervical cancers," acting Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach told Reuters.

Given in three doses over six months, Gardasil targets four HPV types believed to cause more than 70 percent of cervical cancer cases and 90 percent of genital warts. The vaccine was approved for use in girls and women ages 9 to 26, Merck said.

Barr started his medical career as a cardiologist. So it was quite a shift in the mid-1990s when his employer, Merck, asked Barr to join a team that was developing an HPV vaccine.

"I had to go look up what HPV meant," Barr, 42, told The Intelligencer. "This is about as far as you can get from medicine."

Barr said he's overwhelmed by the feeling that he's helped develop something that will save millions of lives.

"It's very difficult to describe," Barr said. "One gets very emotional. It's really a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing."

The biggest challenge for Gardasil comes because of the target market: adolescent girls. HPV is a sexually transmitted disease, and some 20 million American men and women have it. To prevent women from getting cervical cancer, women must be inoculated before they become sexually active. But for some parents and religious groups, that might be a touchy question.

Merck's Barr says that won't be a problem. "You have to understand what's at stake here," he told Forbes. "Regardless of your background, as a parent, you want to be able to protect your child against cancer."

[ThisLittleLightofMine]

The HPV vaccine is for a very specific type of cervical cancer which contacted through sexual intercourse, many women get cervical cancer that do not engage in promiscuous behavior.

[From many - one.]

Hav you ever seen a photograph of a Cochin Jew? A Chinese Jew?

Judaism is a religion.

[From many - one.]

You consistently fail to address either rape or a non-virginal husband.

[nmh]

"Hav you ever seen a photograph of a Cochin Jew? A Chinese Jew?"

This is one of the few rational points raised here on race. Yes, there are Chinese Jews and Black Jews - Ethiopia, I believe. In the broader definition, without these exceptions, Jews are considered a race even if they don't share the distinct characteristics. I'd doubt that Hitler would have stopped at "race". He would have continued to slaughter Jews regardless of how they looked - just as long as they were Jewish.

As Jews continue to intermarry with other religions, the idea of "race" is watered down further. It's odd how other Jews still consider themselves a "race" and take pride in that. I think they should have pride in who they are.

"Judaism is a religion."

On that we have no disagreement.

[nmh]

"You consistently fail to address either rape or a non-virginal husband."

First I saw the question raised. So forget the "consistently" part. Rape happens. Should a male wait - of course! If someone is raped, they should be punished. I don't understand why this is such an issue. Common sense should kick in at some point ... .

[nmh]

Funny how I am so RIGHT on this:

Abstinence is the answer:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1654646/posts?page=2

It's common sense for most people. Proper self control would solve allot of these issues - by NO, people don't want to hear that. Nope. It's easier to be irresponsible and dream up red herring situations to justify their misguided stances.

I dare say that people in Uganda aren't smarted than us.

Or are they?

Based on the yipping on this thread, I have to wonder if they are.

[Alama]

And as it hasn't worked for the last 300 000 years, hope you hear the conversation I reported... YOu deserve it!

[linda_22003]

"If someone is raped, they should be punished."

You're pretty harsh. Some of us think being raped is "punishment" enough.

[Alama]

This is your reply!
U.S.-funded “abstinence-only” programs are jeopardizing Uganda’s successful fight against HIV/AIDS, Human Rights Watch said in a new report today. Abstinence-only programs deny young people information about any method of HIV prevention other than sexual abstinence until marriage.
he 80-page report, “The Less They Know, the Better: Abstinence-Only HIV/AIDS Programs in Uganda,” documents the recent removal of critical HIV/AIDS information from primary school curricula, including information about condoms, safer sex and the risks of HIV in marriage. Draft secondary-school materials state falsely that latex condoms have microscopic pores that can be permeated by HIV, and that pre-marital sex is a form of “deviance.” HIV/AIDS rallies sponsored by the U.S. government spread similar falsehoods. “These abstinence-only programs leave Uganda’s children at risk of HIV,” said Jonathan Cohen, a researcher with Human Rights Watch's HIV/AIDS Program and one of the report’s authors. “Abstinence messages should complement other HIV-prevention strategies, not undermine them.”

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/03/30/uganda10380.htm

This is utterly contemptible and a sign of the religiously inspired obscurantism you exhhibit, prefering to have people die...

[From many - one.]

Posts 49 and 56 were addressed to you and brought up the topic.

[From many - one.]

What Jews have in common is being Jewish, not being Caucasian.

Or do you have the notion that living among Egyptians, Sumerians, Babylonians etc. the early Jews had no intermarriage or rape (I mention this because one is accounted Jewish by way of the mother, so a woman raped by, say an Egyptian overlord, would have a Jewish child.

[nmh]

"What Jews have in common is being Jewish, not being Caucasian."

I never said they were Caucasian. I said they were Jewish!
"Or do you have the notion that living among Egyptians, Sumerians, Babylonians etc. the early Jews had no intermarriage or rape (I mention this because one is accounted Jewish by way of the mother, so a woman raped by, say an Egyptian overlord, would have a Jewish child."

Intermarriage is precisely what makes the "race" word more difficult. If the mother is not Jewish, the children are not Jewish either. It is because they used to inter marry that they were a race.

As for rape that is in the Bible and so are the consequences for it.

In the future you'll be debating with yourself. This has already gotten ridiculous with your penchant to debate nothing. Just trying to save you from further embarrassment. yes, I know, it is critically important to have the last word accompanying some flame words - so go for it!

[Gondring]

However, there are ways to detect the most common problem caused by HPV in men, genital warts.

and nearly all carriers to whom your daughters may be exposed will not show this evidence, even with vinegar. And it's possible for infection to be received by a baby during birth, so even marrying a virgin won't protect them. And how about sexual assault...since asking a rapist to wear a condom won't stop it (even the recent study showed 12 cases out of 42 with 100% condom use)?

I'm all for educating on the dangers of promiscuous sex, but that doesn't mean we should ignore protections.

[Gondring]

Pre-martial, pre-marital...what's the diff? ;-)

[linda_22003]

In my marriage, quite a bit! Naturally, I don't know about yours!

[Gondring]

Drunk driving is fine for others...your kids are safe as long as they don't do it, huh?

[From many - one.]

Thanks for playing.

I like your new description of race; "It is because they used to inter marry that they were a race."

...and furhter note your lack of a response to 230.

[Antoninus]

By now I must say I won't cry if your daughter catch this cancer!

Thanks so much for being such an eloquent spokesperson for the Culture of Death.

[Antoninus]

And once again, this article is deceiving. This is not a vaccine against ovarian cancer. It's a vaccine meant to prevent Human Papiloma Virus (HPV) which is a risk factor in most forms of cervical cancer.

Of course, what they don't tell you is that we already have a fool-proof way to defeat Human Papiloma Virus: Abstain from intercourse before marriage and be faithful after marriage. The success rate of this method for preventing HPV and every other STD is 100%.

[Antoninus]

But wishing cancer on those that don't have any problem with it is the sign of fanatical obscurantism...

The only one doing that on this thread is you, babe. As is typical of your ilk, you've got a really bad case of transference.