The HPV Vaccine On Trial

In 2006, following an expedited review, the Food and Drug Administration approved Merck & Co.‘s Gardasil vaccine, a “preventive” vaccine targeting a limited range of strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV), including two strains that are linked to the possible development of cervical cancers. In 2009, the FDA, in another “fast track” review, approved Cervarix, a similar vaccine by another pharmaceutical company, GlaxoSmithKline. In The HPV Vaccine, Mary Holland and Kim Mack Rosenberg, expert researchers on the making, marketing, and safety of vaccines, assess the quick popularity of the HPV vaccine. They reveal the business behind the pharmaceutical and medical industries’ push for it and how this effects the population it’s most targeted toward, girls and women ages eleven to twenty-six. The insightful text is geared toward providing parents and young adults with the information they need to know to decide whether to give their children the vaccine or get it themselves. It’s also for women’s health organizations, health professionals, and members of the medical industry, who need to know what the effects of the vaccine on patients will be and the disturbing reasons that the pharmaceutical companies and the FDA released it despite disconcerting results.

Author Biography

Mary Holland, M.A., J.D., is on the faculty at NYU School of Law, directs its Graduate Lawyering Program, and lives in New York City. Kim Mack Rosenberg, J.D., is a lawyer in private practice and lives in New York City. Eileen Iorio has practiced in the financial and health fields and lives outside New York City.