FDA staffers have raised concerns that Gardasil, the closely watched vaccine against cervical cancer, may actually increase the rates of a cancer precursor. Staffers have also asked an expert committee--which is meeting today to review Gardasil--to examine the potential impact on other infections related to HPV as well as a few birth defects among children born to women around the time they began to take the vaccine. Documents also underscore, though, that the FDA staffers see Gardasil as essentially safe and effective. Merck believes that Gardasil offers a chance to cut the number of deaths from cervical cancer by two thirds.
- here's the AP report on Gardasil