Vaccines Against Human Papilloma Virus and Cervical Cancer: An Overview

The paradigm of preventing human papilloma virus (HPV) infection through currently approved vaccines, namely, Gardasil, manufactured by Merck and Co., Inc. (Whitehouse Station, NJ) and Cervarix, manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK, Philadelphia) holds tremendous promise for the developing countries in decreasing the burden of HPV infection and its sequelae, such as cervical cancer, genital warts and anogenital cancers. Effective screening programs that have reduced the burden of this killer disease in the developed countries are still lacking in India, despite the high incidence of cervical cancer and the implementation of the National Cancer Control Programme since 1975. The recent breakthrough in the global war against cervical cancer will provide new insight for meeting the future challenge of the prevention of cervical cancer in India.