UK government to switch from Cervarix to Gardasil for HPV vaccination

As of next September, a different vaccine will be used in the HPV vaccination program to protect girls from cervical cancer, the UK Department of Health has announced yesterday. Following a competitive tendering exercise, Gardasil (human papillomavirus quadrivalent [types 6, 11, 16 and 18] Vaccine, Recombinant), supplied by Sanofi Pasteur MSD, a joint venture of the USA’s Merck & Co (NYSE: MRK) and France’s Sanofi (Euronext: SAN), will be the vaccine used in the next school year, thus switching from current supplier GlaxoSmithKline’s Cervarix (human papillomavirus bivalent [types 16 and 18] vaccine, recombinant).

A recent analysis of cervical-cancer vaccine conducted by researchers from the UK’s Health Protection Agency has shown that Gardasil is more cost-effective than Cervarix (The Pharma Letter September 29). The HPA report implied that the current price the government pays for Cervarix represents a false economy, and that GSK must price its vaccines much lower if it is to be as cost-effective as Gardasil. It suggests that Cervarix would need to cost £19-£35 ($29.33-$54.03) less per dose than Gardasil for it to be as cost-effective.

Gardasil protects against the two types of HPV virus that cause more than 70% of cervical cancer in England and two types of HPV virus that cause 90% of genital warts, the DoH noted. GSK chose not to participate in the vaccine tender as the government’s priorities have moved from cervical-cancer protection to also include HPV-related non-cervical tumors and protecting young girls against genital warts, according to a Bloomberg report. Cervarix does not protect against the strains of the HPV that cause the majority of such growths.