HPV vaccine: Cervarix

Importance of the field. Cervical cancer is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and is common in relatively young women. Cervical screening programs, while successful if properly carried out, are difficult and expensive to implement, and offer secondary, not primary prevention. Vaccination against the human papillomavirus (HPV), which is the major cause of cervical cancer, is a significant step forward. Areas covered in this review. The data on Cervarix, the GSK HPV vaccine, are reviewed and placed in the context of HPV vaccination as a whole. A literature review using PubMed listed publications and official product websites has been carried out. What the reader will gain: The reader will gain an understanding of the issues involved in HPV vaccination and of the data to date. Take home message: Cervarix has been shown to have high efficacy against disease associated with both HPV-16 and HPV-18. Its antibody response profile allows for optimism regarding the duration of immunity. The fact that it is a virus-like particle, rather than a live-virus vaccine, is reassuring regarding safety, as are the reasonably extensive safety data for the vaccine preparation so far accrued. Cross protection against oncogenic non-vaccine HPV types, in particular HPV-45, may be important in the prevention of cervical adenocarcinoma, which is currently not well served by screening.