Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

U. Texas planning to offer new cancer drug
By Farran Powell
Daily Texan (U. Texas)
07/10/2006

(U-WIRE) AUSTIN, Texas — University of Texas Health Services plans to offer Gardasil, a vaccine that immunizes against cancer-causing strains of the human papilloma virus.

The Centers for Disease Control Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted unanimously in June to recommend girls and women aged between 11 and 26 to be vaccinated with Gardasil to prevent cervical cancer, which can be caused by HPV.

The vaccine, manufactured by Merck & Co., is the first vaccine specifically designed to prevent cancer. Each year there are on average 9,710 women diagnosed with cervical cancer and 3,700 deaths from cervical cancer, according to the CDC.

UT Health Services is still negotiating details with the manufacturer.

"We just haven't got the logistics yet," said Theresa Spalding, medical director of UHS. "It takes three shots, and the total will cost between $500 and $600. We're still trying to work on a price."

Recent medical lawsuits against Merck for the drug Vioxx have pushed the company near bankruptcy, causing the company to increase prices on its pharmaceuticals such as Gardasil and Lipitor, said Gilbert Ross, executive director of the American Council on Science and Health, a consumer-based health organization in New York.

Gardasil will be the most expensive vaccine ever made, Ross said.

"Naturally, price is an issue," Ross said. "But it's an important drug to prevent cervical cancer."

The CDC recommends Gardasil to be included as a routine childhood vaccine, suggesting the new vaccine be administered to girls when they're 11 or 12 years old. The CDC also approved girls as young as 9 for the vaccine at the discretion of their physicians.

Conservative Christian groups, including Focus on the Family, oppose the vaccine being listed as one of the mandated immunizations for public school attendance since HPV is transmitted through sexual encounters.

"Our concern is the protection of children and family and public policy," said Linda Klepacki, a Focus on the Family analyst for sexual health. "Parents have a right whether their children are vaccinated."

In Texas, parents can waive vaccinations based on their religious beliefs.

"There is what is referred to as a conscientious reaction when a parent does not want their child to get a vaccination," said Doug McBride, spokesman for the Texas Department of Health. "They can waiver it, but it's not something we encourage."

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