Posted on 06/23/2006 7:21:19 AM PDT by 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."
If she had half a brain in her head and knew she could possibly get Cervical cancer if she didn't....she'd wait six months.
Contrarily to you it seems, I HAVE kids... And saying that they don't want to have sex efo marriage is quite laughable... Or maybe you haven't yet dealt with teenagers... Given your attitude, I am reasonably certain that they say one thing to you, and behave as they want outside...
And this is where this vaccine comes...
And if and when she gets cancer, I am sure you'll say it was God's will because she was a bad girl...
Despicable in my opinion... But then fanatics are...
From a previous thread on this very issue - and with the same poster baiting and being ugly.....
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1650591/posts
No one in the article or on this thread is advocating letting children die and not treating illness.
Look people have sex outside of marriage - people in marriages aren't honest about past (or present partners) things happen in life and you have to deal with it. HPV is a lifelong consequence - From a Fortune article "Gardasil is almost certain to be approved by the FDA, say analysts, who place the medicine's annual peak revenue potential in the $2 to $4 billion range. Those estimates assume states will make Gardasil mandatory. The shots are given three times over a six month period, and will cost anywhere between $300 and $500. The vaccine lasts for up {They aren't even sure how long it's going to last} to five years. Merck's strongest data point: Studies that show the vaccine to be 100 percent effective against strains of HPV, which are responsible for some 70 percent of cervical cancers. In the United States, 14,000 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year, and 3,900 die from it, according the U.S. Centers for Disease Control."
What I do have a problem with is, advocating, much less mandating a vaccination for 8 and 9 year old girls that is effective at best for 5-7 years. If it's truly to prevent STD's then you allow for it later, but it shouldn't be mandatory. It's so bizarre, I see people all the time on this forum about feeding tubes ask who's paying for this? No thought at all about who pays for vaccinations. I have no problem with this vaccination being available (and informed consent), it's the mandatory part and the age that I think stinks. You innocoluate your own daughter - leave mine alone!
From the Fortune article about this "Fisher says mainstream parental opposition to Gardasil is easy to explain. "Parents are becoming more concerned about the shear number of vaccines kids are getting these days," she says. "In the 1980s, U.S. children got 23 doses of seven vaccines by age six. Today, they get 48 doses of 14 vaccines in the same period."
"And during the time that vaccines doses have doubled," she says, "there's been an increase in the number of children with autism, attention deficit and hyperactive disorder, learning disabilities, asthma, and diabetes, in which vaccines could be a contributing factor."
Fisher is strongly opposed to Merck's proposals to inoculate girls at age 9, which is six years before the average age of first sexual experience in the United States "It's just profit-making on the backs of 9-year-old girls," charges Fisher. The proposal has also drawn widely publicized ire from groups like the Family Research Council and Focus on the Family, both Christian conservative organizations generally opposed to anything they believe promotes premarital sex."
"And if and when she gets cancer, I am sure you'll say it was God's will because she was a bad girl...
Despicable in my opinion... But then fanatics are..."
There you go again. Always spewing liberal trash talk.
It is YOU that is despicable for even uttering such a wish on my daughter. It's irresponsible hate filled people like YOU that sicken me. I wouldn't wish it on a non Christian.
I really pity your children... But then Darwin at work...
Some are on the side of their daughters, others on the side of the disease.
Our stance is NO SEX BEFORE MARRIAGE.As a GOOD parent I won't be getting this shot for her.
As an IRRESPONISBLE parent who doesn't raise their daughter properly, I'd want to give it to her asap.
I assume as a responsible parent you require your daughter to marry a virgin.
That’s fine, but you may be a tad overconfident in managing others lives.
Ping!
Great thread btw.
ThisLittleLIghtofMine, are you against the development of this drug?
Personally I think Merck should spend their money on developing drugs, not education. Personally I think the connection between the risk of disease and promiscuous sex it tenuous at best, and likely nonexistent.
Tobacco companies and alcohol companies use a portion of their monies on education. Are the drug companies above this approach? An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure....
I'm glad the drug has been created, I'm sure it will save many women's lives.
Another Israeli works to the benefit of mankind..........
make sure all the islamic countries know that this vaccine was so developed, so they can add another advancement in medicine to their boycott of Jewish works..........
Well if you raise them properly - NO SEX before marriage the disease has no opportunity to infect you.
Better hope the love of her life has never had sex either, unless they are both virgins on their wedding night then all the great parenting in the world won't do her any good.
"Like liberals, you assume the worst. Have no trust in kids. Don't believe raising them properly will work."
... and after all you do - if your kid dosen't learn - the heck with them ... Let her get Cancer because YOU didn't do something as simple as get her a few shots as a kid, when YOU could have handled it.
Now that's just being a great parent !
I thought that very odd to put into the article. Why do you think they did it?
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