Re: Re: FDA OKs first cervical cancer vaccine

[Guest guest]

That has already been thought of by Merck: The company also wants to market Gardasil to boys as young as 9, though the panel did not vote on that issue. Farley, an infectious disease specialist who served as the panel's acting chairwoman, said the question of whether to sell the vaccine to boys was not on a list of items to be voted on prepared by the FDA. Males spread the human papillomavirus to women through sexual contact. Barr said Merck proposes a label for the vaccine that would permit ''gender-neutral" vaccination. Lauri Markowitz, a Centers for Disease Control epidemiologist, cautioned others on the panel not to read too much into Merck estimates that vaccinating boys could prevent thousands of infections among women. Markowitz said the potential to prevent disease by inoculating boys was ''very exciting" but that ''a lot of assumptions" went into Merck's models, including widespread use of an

expensive treatment. http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/2006/05/19/federal_advisers_back_cervical_cancer_vaccine/ Aasamainshipper34 <mainshipper34@...> wrote: Knowing how the CDC works and how close they are with Merck they'll probably make it mandantory for boys too!Steve