the hpv

people are still surprised when i bring this up in conversation, despite its being over a week old, so i'll link to it here. merck's new HPV vaccine "gardasil" just passed its phase II trials. for some reason it's just for women, which is disappointing, but c'est la vie. this drug protects against the two strains of the HPV that cause cervical cancer and the two that cause genital warts. supposedly in this trial the experimental group showed a 90% reduction in cervical cancer rates, and i think there were zero instances of genital warts. it's entering phase III trials soon and they hope to sell it in about two years. glaxosmithkline should have a vaccine coming out at about the same time that doesn't protect against warts.

if you know anyone who's died of cervical cancer or anyone suffering with genital warts, you'll be as excited as i am to see this happen. there are an estimated 1 million new HPV infections a year in america alone. these drugs could lead to the eradication of those two illnesses in a generation. in rich countries, that is. the third world is still fucked. the WTO is doing everything it can to guarantee drug companies aren't vicimized by poor people with diseases.