More Benefits of Gardasil?

With GSK's HPV vaccine -- Cervarix -- about to enter the final stages of FDA review prior to its all but certain licensure in the coming months, the marketing battle between GSK and Merck is about to begin in earnest.

One precursor of what's to come has been the occasional announcements and published papers noting protection against additional HPV strains beyond those specifically included in the vaccine. We've linked to many of those items previously.

Another sign is this headline: "Gardasil Guards Against Vaginal, Vulval Cancers: Researchers found cervical cancer vaccine reduced risk of lesions by 49%". The story is based on a paper in the latest issue of The Lancet by Joura and colleagues (abstract available here with free registration).