THE first vaccines designed to prevent cancer could be on the market within a few years. But deciding who should receive the potentially life-saving shots – and at what age – could prove controversial.
The vaccines protect against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer, which kills almost a quarter of a million women worldwide each year. GlaxoSmithKline has just published the results of phase II trials, which show its vaccine is 100 per cent effective in healthy young women who have the three necessary injections at the right time (The Lancet, vol 364, p 1757).
“The vaccine acts way, way before you get cancer,” says…
