Choosing Glaxo’s Cervarix saves UK money: study

Britain’s decision to choose GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s Cervarix cervical cancer vaccine over Merck and Co’s Gardasil could save the government 20 million pounds ($40 million) annually, researchers said on Friday.

The study published in the British Journal of Medicine is some of the evidence Britain’s health department used to make its choice in June to award Glaxo the contract for a national immunisation programme, the researchers said.

“This was a piece of evidence the government used in its decision and now we are making it available in the public domain,” Mark Jit and colleagues from Britain’s Health Protection Agency wrote.

Most cases of cervical cancer are caused by the sexually transmitted human papilloma virus. The cancer kills 300,000 women each year, mostly in developing countries.

In June, Britain chose Cervarix for its vaccination programme starting in September for girls aged 12 to 13. Cervarix protects against the two types of human papilloma virus responsible for about 70 percent of cervical cancers.

Five EU countries—Britain, France, Germany, Austria, and Italy—have introduced the vaccination into their national health programmes and most are considering it.

The Department of Health has not released financial details of its contract with Glaxo and has not said how much it will pay for the vaccines.

Cervarix is arguably the most important new product for Glaxo this decade but its path to market in the United States has been problematic, with the FDA delaying approval last December pending more information.

Merck’s Gardasil is available on both sides of the Atlantic and achieved global sales of $390 million in the first quarter of this year.

The Health Protection Agency’s economic and mathematical model analyzed the direct benefit to girls who would receive the vaccine and indirect impact for those who would not get it. It assumed both vaccines would equally prevent cervical cancer.

The model found the programme was likely to be cost-effective provided the protection lasts for more than 10 years. The programme would also provide “herd immunity” to people in the general population who did not receive the vaccine, they said.

It also suggested that vaccinating boys would not be cost effective because covering 80 percent of girls should prevent most cervical cancer cases.

Cervarix priced at 13 to 21 pounds less than Gardasil would mean savings of between 11.5 million pounds and 18.6 million in the first year of the programme if 80 percent of 12 year olds receive the full three dose vaccine series, Jane Kim of the Harvard School of Public Health added in a commentary.

LONDON (Reuters)