( privatephysicians' offices and privat...)New England Journal of Medicine Publishes New Data on Gardasil,,Merck's Cervical Cancer Vaccine,Health

GARDASIL is approved in 70 countries

GARDASIL (sold in some countries as SILGARD(R)) has been approved in 70 countries, including the United States, the 27 countries of the European Union, Mexico, Australia, Taiwan, Canada, New Zealand and Brazil, and additional applications are currently under review with regulatory agencies in many more countries around the world.

Merck will donate free vaccine to the non-profit organization PATH to support demonstration studies designed to accelerate the availability of cervical cancer vaccines in the most impoverished nations. PATH is funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Merck is also working with India's Council of Medical Research to study GARDASIL in India. Merck will make its new vaccines, including GARDASIL, available to developing world countries at dramatically lower prices.

HPV is a common infection

In the United States, approximately 20 million people are infected with HPV, and approximately 80 percent of females will have acquired HPV by age 50. For most people, HPV goes away on its own; however in some, certain high-risk types of HPV, if unrecognized and untreated, can lead to cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in women worldwide, resulting in nearly a half-million diagnoses and 240,000 deaths each year. It is estimated that in 2007, there will be approximately 11,150 new cases of cervical cancer and 3,700 deaths in the United States. Approximately 6,000 cases of vulvar or vaginal cancer are diagnosed annually in the U.S.

Certain low-risk types of HPV cause genital warts and can lead to abnormal Pap results. Approximately one million cases of genital warts occur each year in
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