Initiative to speed development of vaccines to protect against cervical cancer

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has received a grant of US$7m from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, as part of an integrated effort to accelerate the development and introduction of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines to protect against cervical cancer.

The grant is part of a joint international effort with the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Harvard University and the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), which have also received new grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The four grants total $12.9m.

Vaccines to prevent HPV infections have the potential to be cost-effective and to reduce the incidence of cervical cancer and related pre-cancerous lesions, particularly in low-resource settings. Modelling studies suggest that combining HPV vaccination and screening programmes may have the most impact on disease control.

Two candidate HPV vaccines, both protecting against the most common cancer-causing HPV types (HPV 16 and 18), and one also protecting against genital warts (including HPV 6 and 11 in addition to HPV 16 and 18), are in Phase III clinical trials and should be available in the near future. Encouraging results from Phase II trials have shown that these vaccines can protect against HPV infections with the above types and associated pre-cancerous lesions in previously uninfected young women.

'I am very pleased to accept this contribution. It will help to save the lives of many women by immunising them against human papillomavirus infections,' said Dr Lee Jong-wook, Director-General, WHO.

The Gates Foundation grants will support the following projects:

• The WHO Initiative for Vaccine Research will work with partners to create an HPV Laboratory Network to facilitate vaccine licensing and monitoring in developing countries; create an international multi-disciplinary policy platform and set guidelines for future HPV vaccine introduction; and to create a WHO Information Centre on HPV and Cervical Cancer.

• The IARC will collect new epidemiological data on HPV in low-resource countries in Asia, Africa, and Eastern Europe.

• Harvard University will develop a series of models for different epidemiologic settings that will be used to evaluate both the population impact and cost-effectiveness of different HPV vaccination strategies.

• PATH will work to develop partnerships with the private sector to facilitate early introduction of HPV vaccine in selected developing countries, develop a case for investing in HPV vaccine, address country- and region-specific programmatic issues, and identify information needs.