By Mary de Wet
Merck said a 10-year followup study of girls and boys who received a three-dose regimen of Gardasil 9 found no serous adverse effects or deaths.
Gardasil 9 is a human papillomavirus 9-valent vaccine given to children ages 9 to 15 years. It targets HPV types that cause about 80% of cervical cancers. HPV is also responsible for causing genital warts and certain types of vulvar, vaginal and anal cancers.
The study showed sustained HPV-antibody responses at 10 years after the third dose in boys and girls, Merck said.
Among girls, there were no cases of vaccine-targeted HPV type high-grade disease, certain cancers or external genital warts observed, the company said.
In boys, there were no cases of vaccine-targeted HPV type disease, certain studied cancers or external genital warts observed, Merck said.
The study was conducted at 40 sites in 13 countries and involved 1,272 participants, the company said.
Write to Mary de Wet at mary.dewet@dowjones.com
Read the full article here