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GlaxoSmithKline has been awarded contract by the Department of Health to provide cervical cancer vaccine to girls across UK. GSK’s win is a blow to the rivals Sanofi Pasteur MSD, which is a joint venture between Merck of the US and Sanofi-Aventis of France for sales in Europe.

It was earlier predicted that Department of Health would choose Sanofi Pasteur MSD’s Gardasil vaccine for its 2m courses of HPV vaccine over three years. British scientific advisers were expected to recommend Gardasil on the basis of its protection against broader number of HPV sub-types. They were not prepared to approve Cervarix unless it was priced significantly lesser than Gardasil.

Eddie Gray, president of pharmaceuticals Europe for GSK, described it as great news for girls and women across UK and considered this to be the reflection of confidence in Cervarix’s cancer protection and sustained immune response. He informed that GSK won 16 tenders out of 20 across Europe in the last few months.

Patrick Poirot, vice-president for medical and scientific affairs at Sanofi Pasteur MSD, regretted that schoolgirls in the UK will be deprived of Gardasil’s unmatched cervical cancer protection and its additional benefits, unlike their peers in US, Australia, and Western Europe. He informed that Gardasil enjoys 90 per cent market share in Europe.

DoH in its explanation for approval of Cervarix mentions that it examined the rival vaccines against scientific qualities and cost effectiveness.