China's first vaccine for cervical cancer enters market

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China's first vaccine to prevent cervical cancer has been officially introduced to the market on Monday, announced British pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK).

Cervarix, a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine developed by GSK, received approval in July of last year to be sold in the Chinese mainland , after almost 10 years of seeking approval. Women can get the vaccination in local community hospitals and healthcare centers.

The GlaxoSmithKline building in west London, Britain. /China Daily Photo‍

Cervical cancer is a common form of malignant tumor that severely threatens the health of women.

With 100,000 new cases and 30,000 death cases each year, cervical cancer is the second leading cancer among Chinese females between the ages of 15 and 44 years old, said Qiao Youlin, professor of Cancer Hospital Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and expert on epidemiology.

“The vaccination will significantly lower the morbidity of cervical cancer and precancerous lesions,” he added.

HPV vaccine. /China Daily Photo

GSK is launching various activities including public disease education, support platform for adult vaccination, professional training for vaccinators, in a bid to provide women in need of cervical cancer protection access to vaccination, according to Thomas Willemsen, general manager for pharmaceuticals and vaccines of GSK China.

Cervarix got the approval by China Food and Drug Administration for marketing in China in July, 2016, first approved vaccine against cervical cancer in Chinese mainland.

The logo of GlaxoSmithKline. /China Daily Photo

A four-year global clinical research involving over 18,000 participants showed that Cervarix can effectively offer protection for uninfected people against cervical precancerous lesions raised by HPV 16 and 18, two main cancer-causing varieties and cross protection against other cancer-causing HPVs, reaching a 93.2% overall protection efficacy of all-type HPV-causing cervical precancerous lesions.

So far, Cervarix has been approved to launch in 132 countries and regions worldwide with over 69 million vaccines supplying for the global market.

(CGTN’s Xie Zhenqi also contributed to this story.)