Gardasil, the HPV vaccine, approved to prevent head-and-neck cancer

Gardasil, the HPV vaccine, approved to prevent head-and-neck cancer

Gardasil finally approved for head and neck cancer

Gardasil, at long last, has been approved to help prevent head-and-neck cancer — a disease that affects 13,500 Americans each year. Although the Merck vaccine has already been recommended to prevent cervical, vulvar, vaginal, and anal cancer, along with genital warts, cancers of the tonsils and throat have been left off of that list — until now. 

It’s been a surprising omission, STAT’s Matthew Herper writes, because head-and-neck cancer is the most common malignancy caused by HPV — and evidence of the association has been apparent for many years. 

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