I haven't been making posts for a couple of days, or responding to them, and it will be several more days before I have the time to really come back to LJ.  But I've been keeping an eye on the progress of the Merk vaccine, Gardasil, and the latest news is great news, so I had to share it as soon as possible!

http://www.usnews.com/blogs/heart-to-heart/2008/11/14/hpv-vaccine-for-men-its-about-time.html

"Finally, two years after it was approved for use in young women, a vaccine against the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV) has now been shown to be safe and effective in protecting young men as well. Merck's vaccine Gardasil cut infections caused by the four most dangerous strains of this virus by 45 percent and reduced the occurrence of HPV-induced warts by 90 percent, according to a new study involving more than 4,000 male volunteers age 16 to 26. The next step is for the Food and Drug Administration to give its blessing."

The FDA also approves the claim that Gardasil can prevent cancer of the vulva and vagina, in addition to its claim of preventing cervical cancer: http://www.fiercepharma.com/story/fda-grants-gardasil-two-new-indications/2008-09-15
 
Unfortuantely, Merk lost the bid to market the vaccine to older women, although "off-label" is still an option (which means that you can talk a doctor into giving you something that isn't FDA approved for the category you fit into, but isn't banned either, though it will probably not be covered by insurance since it's not FDA approved to make the claim that it's good for you).

Some more articles about this are here:

http://www.fiercebiotech.com/story/phase-iii-gardasil-prevents-hpv-men/2008-11-13
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/11/13/hpv-vaccine-men.html
http://www.fiercevaccines.com/comment/reply/8021 (ignore the idiot in the comments who claims that vaccines cause cancer and girls are dropping dead all over the place)
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/nov/15/4u-doctors-warn-of-hpv-link-to-developing-oral-can/ - yet another article indicating that HPV is linked to oral cancers

And for the conspiracy theorists and people who fear the over-hyped claims of danger related to side effects from the vaccine: http://www.fiercepharma.com/story/gardasil-remarkably-safe-despite-anaphylaxis/2008-09-03?utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss&cmp-id=OTC-RSS-FP0 claims that Gardasil is "remarkably safe despite anaphylactic reactions". (The report that this article references is here: http://www.slate.com/id/2198325 and goes over the pros and cons of giving the vaccine)

 

I may be updating this post when I have more time, rather than making a whole new post about the same stuff, just so ya know.