April 13 NYC Talk on HPV Vaccine Decisions

HPV Infection and HPV Vaccine: Making an Informed Decision

Why:
Public health officials have told American parents to give their 11-year-old daughters the human papilloma virus, or HPV, vaccine. And drug company lobbyists are trying to persuade state legislators to mandate the vaccine for sixth grade girls. Now, some are talking about the need to vaccinate boys too. But how much does the American public really know about HPV infection, cervical cancer and the newly licensed HPV vaccine, GARDASIL, or the HPV vaccine soon to be licensed, CERVARIX?

When and where:
Come hear the story behind the story on Friday, April 13 at 6:00 p.m. at Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South, Manhattan. Admission is free.

Who:
Barbara Loe Fisher, is co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center, a non-profit, educational organization dedicated to preventing vaccine injuries and deaths through public education and defending the informed consent ethic. She is the co-author of the 1985 book DPT: A Shot in the Dark and has been the leader of the vaccine safety and informed consent movement for the past quarter century. She has served on the National Vaccine Advisory Committee, Institute of Medicine Vaccine Safety Forum and the FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee.

Vicky Debold, Ph.D., RN is health policy analyst for the National Vaccine Information Center. She served as an assistant professor at the University of Michigan; an associate professor and director of the Health Systems Management Program at the University of Detroit, Mercy; and health policy analyst for the U.S. Congress at the Physician Payment Review Commission, the Michigan Health and Safety Coalition and the Michigan State Commission on Patient Safety.

Sponsor:
The evening is sponsored by the Center for Medical Consumers.

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"In making the case for its vaccine, Merck has said Gardasil prevents genital warts and other dangerous HPV strains. The firm is also studying Gardasil's use in boys. GlaxoSmithKline counters that Cervarix is more powerful and may prevent up to 80 percent of cancers, thanks to the company's proprietary adjuvant, AS04, a key booster ingredient. It also is funding an unusual head-to-head comparison to try to prove Cervarix is more potent than Gardasil. And then there is the price. At $360 for a three-shot course, Gardasil is the most expensive vaccine ever marketed, part of an industry effort to push up profit margins in the notoriously risky business. GlaxoSmithKline declined to disclose what it would charge for Cervarix, if approved as expected sometime between October and January." - Thomas Ginsberg, Philadelphia Inquirer , March 30, 2007

“ Several studies are underway to better understand the [HPV] virus in males and whether the new HPV vaccine, Gardasil, also will work for them. As researchers already know and as the new data confirm, HPV is not just a women’s issue..... We know they transmit it to women, but what is the rate of transmission?” says Anna Giuliano, a researcher at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute in Tampa, Fla., who is leading three government- financed studies on HPV infection in men. She is also a paid speaker for Merck, the maker of Gardasil.....“We’re seeing a really high prevalence in men, and we see little change in prevalence across the age span,” says Giuliano, who found the 60 percent prevalence rate in one of her studies..... HPV infection isn’t inconsequential in men. Certain strains of the virus are known to cause genital warts in men as well as women. And those infections are estimated to be the cause of about half of all anal, penile, vulvar and vaginal cancers and about 20 percent of the cause of all oral cancers, says Dr. Dean Blumberg, an associate professor of pediatric infectious disease at the University of California, Davis. Blumberg is a member of Merck’s speakers bureau but is not paid directly by Merck for his services." - Shari Roan, Los Angeles Times, March 26, 2007

"The state is attempting to micromanage children's healthcare with legislative proposals requiring young girls to receive a vaccine to fight cervical cancer unless their parents or guardians opt out in writing. The state should leave the matter up to parents and their children's doctors and concentrate on diseases and illnesses that are communicable in the school setting, not those from a virus that is sexually transmitted. Cervical cancer is a deadly disease, killing about half of those who contract it worldwide. In the United States, 1-in-3 victims die. There are about 15,000 cervical cancer cases in the United States each year. If Gardasil can greatly reduce that number - and it appears to have that potential - that's wonderful. But the [Illinois] Legislature should not inject itself into this decision." - Editorial Board, Pantagraph, Bloomberg, IL