Push to expand Gardasil vaccine to boys as throat cancer linked to HPV
There is a push to expand the distribution of the Gardasil vaccine, manufactured by Merck & Company, to boys, as recent studies are linking the development of throat cancers to the Human Papillomavirus (HPV). Gardasil is currently marketed as a treatment for girls and young women for the prevention of cervical cancer, which also is caused by HPV. HPV is a sexually transmitted virus. Gardasil protects against four types of HPV, two of which are most often linked to the development of cervical cancer.