FDA Approves HPV Vaccine for Men

Sex just got a little less warty. Federal health advisers have said that the FDA should approve Merck's vaccine Gardasil for men, as it protects against male genital warts, the Associated Press reports. Gardasil is currently used in women to prevent cervical cancer caused by the human papillomavirus, or HPV, which also causes genital warts. If the FDA takes the panel's recommendation, the market for Gardasil could potentially double, although analysts don't think men will use the vaccination because genital warts usually clear up on their own. The panel also recommended approval of Cervarix, GlaxoSmithKline's version of the vaccine, which protects against the virus that causes cervical cancer, but not the two strains of HPV that cause 90 percent of genital warts, as Gardasil does. A Leerink Swann analyst suggested that Cervarix could take up to 25 to 30 percent of the HPV-vaccine market.