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Posted on Oct 11, 2005, 8 a.m.
By Bill Freeman
A vaccine has shown 100% efficacy against cervical cancer reported nine newspapers . The newspapers gave generally accurate summaries of a press release describing what appear to be interim results of a clinical trial. It is not possible to evaluate the research because full details are not available.
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Nine newspapers (1-9) reported the results of a trial of a vaccine. The newspapers reported that the vaccine demonstrated 100% efficacy against cervical cancer. All reported that the vaccine was designed to protect against two strains of a virus called human papillomavirus (HPV) which is believed to be a main cause of cervical cancer.
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The reports appear to be based on a press release (10) describing interim results of a randomised controlled trial which is part of an ongoing programme of trials by the manufacturers of the vaccine; Merck. The results are due to be presented at the Infectious Diseases Society of America annual meeting in October 2005 (11). A licensing application for the vaccine is planned by the end of the year.
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The trial involved 12,167 women from 13 countries. Half of the women received three doses of the vaccine Gardasil over six months and the other half received placebo injections. The main results that were reported were based on women that had received all three injections and had been followed up for an average of 17 months. No cases of cervical pre-cancers or non-invasive cancers were observed in the women that received all three injections of the vaccine (n=5301), compared to 21 cases in the group that received three placebo injections (n=5258).
The newspaper reports were generally accurate summaries of the results described in the press release. Most newspapers reported about the age that the vaccine would be administered in practice and two newspapers (1, 3) optimistically reported that the vaccine could end the need for smear tests.
Systematic reviews
Information staff at CRD searched for systematic reviews relevant to this topic. Systematic reviews are valuable sources of evidence as they locate, appraise and synthesize all available evidence on a particular topic.
There were no related systematic reviews identified on the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) or on the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE)..
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