Gardasil Vaccine Effective In Protecting Men From Genital Warts

More evidence to show Gardail vaccine could be effective in men too.

The vaccine was 90 per cent effective in preventing lesions such as sexually transmitted warts that are not life-threatening, according to the placebo-controlled study of 4,000 males that was funded by the vaccine's manufacturer and presented at a medical conference in Nice, France.

"We see 90.4 per cent efficacy in reducing external genital lesions in males related to these four types of HPV — 6, 11, 16, 18," said Anna Giuliano, an epidemiologist at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Tampa, Florida, who worked on the study.

The HPV vaccine was approved in Canada for females aged nine to 26 for the prevention of cervical, vulvar and vaginal cancer and precancerous lesions and genital warts.

The vaccine was not licensed for males in Canada or the U.S. since there was no evidence that it prevented penile cancer or other cancers associated with the human papillomavirus or HPV in men. About 40 other countries have approved the vaccine for males.

"HPV diseases are on the rise among Canadian men so I am encouraged by these new results," said study investigator Dr. François Coutlée, a professor at the University of Montreal and a clinical researcher in molecular virology at CHUM-Hôpital Notre-Dame.

The study looked at males aged 16 to 23, including 3,400 heterosexuals and 600 men who have sex with men. Participants were randomized to either receive three doses of the vaccine or placebo and were followed every six months for 36 months so far.