GlaxoSmithKline says HPV vaccine worked in study

NEW YORK — Drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline PLC said Tuesday a study shows its human papillomavirus vaccine Cervarix was effective against the types of HPV that are most likely to cause cervical cancer, but also fought other strains of the disease.

Results from a study involving 18,644 women were published in The Lancet, a British medical journal. The late stage trial was intended to show that Cervarix prevents lesions from HPV types 16 and 18, which are the most likely to result in cervical cancer. The study showed that women who received all three doses of the vaccine provided 92.9 percent protection, and GlaxoSmithKline said there was also evidence the vaccine protects against HPV types 31, 33, and 45.

Those strains are the most likely to cause cervical cancer after 16 and 18, GlaxoSmithKline said. The London-based company said the results are the first time any cervical cancer vaccine provided significant protection against precancerous lesions from other types of HPV.

Cervarix has not been approved for use in the U.S. or Japan, but is available in the European Union and many other countries. If it is approved by the Food and Drug Administration, it would compete with Merck and Co.'s HPV vaccine Gardasil.

The trial involved women age 15 to 25, who received either Cervarix or a control hepatitis A vaccine. Injections were given at the start of the trial, and then one month and six months after the beginning of testing. The vaccine was tested on patients who had evidence of current or previous HPV infection, or high grade pap smear results, and also women with no evidence of current or previous infection.

Excluding some lesions that are not likely to be caused by HPV type 16 or 18, GlaxoSmithKline said Cervarix provided 98.1 percent protection against precancerous lesions caused by those types.

In afternoon trading, shares of GlaxoSmithKline fell 60 cents to $34.54.