Merck's HPV Vaccine Gets Boosters

The panel's recommendations provide scientific and financial clout because they strongly influence insurers; medical societies, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics; and public health agencies, as well as state legislatures that provide financing for vaccines. The states will determine if Gardasil must be mandatory for school-age children.

The advisory committee recommended that Gardasil be included in the federal Vaccines For Children program, which provides free vaccines to people under 19 who are uninsured, Medicaid-eligible, Native American or natives of Alaska. The panel's suggestions will be sent to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services, which will issue final recommendations in a few months.

Gardasil costs $120 a shot for a regimen of three shots that must be given within six months. It is unclear what discounts Merck might offer to insurers or government-aid programs, although CDC's Schuchat said the price for Gardasil under the Vaccines For Children program would be subject to negotiation.

Last month, Merck said it would create a new vaccine-aid program for adults who are uninsured or underinsured, providing free vaccines, including Gardasil, starting next month. "Merck will continue to provide its pediatric vaccines at significantly discounted prices for use in government-funded programs that provide free vaccines to uninsured children and to other children with limited access to vaccines," the company said.

Merck licenses Gardasil from Australia's CSL Ltd.

On average, the CDC says there are 9,710 new cases and 3,700 deaths from cervical cancer in the U.S each year. HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the U.S., and more than 20 million men and women have HPV. The virus is most common in young women and men who are in their late teens and early 20s, the CDC says. By age 50, at least 80% of women will have acquired an HPV infection, according to the CDC.