Posted on behalf of Heidi Ledford

The UK government is again under fire for its decision to save money by providing a cheaper cervical cancer vaccine that does not protect against genital warts.

This latest round of debate surrounding the controversial vaccine was reignited by an economic analysis published in the British Medical Journal. An accompanying editorial says that the cheaper vaccine — rather than a more expensive one which does fend off genital warts — could save the UK £18.6 million.

The paper provides a glimpse into the calculations that went on at the UK Department of health before it announced last month that it would use GlaxoSmithKline’s human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in its campaign to vaccinate girls against the cancer-causing virus (Times). That vaccine, called Cervarix, protects against the two strains of HPV responsible for 70% of cervical cancer. But Merck and Sanofi Pasteur’s Gardasil vaccine fends off the two strains targeted by Cervarix and also protects against two HPV strains that cause genital warts.

(In the US, Gardasil is the only such vaccine available. US regulatory authorities have yet to approve Cervarix vaccine and aren’t expected to reach a decision until 2009 (WSJ).)

According to the BMJ paper, there are over 100,000 diagnosed cases of genital warts in the UK each year. Activists have challenged the health authority on the decision.