Island doctors want province to cover cost of HPV vaccine

For years, vaccines seemed to be somewhat of an afterthought in the pharmaceutical business. Recently they have become one of the hottest areas of research and development. But now that some innovative products have either been released or soon will be approved, drug benefit plans are going to have to decide what will be covered or not.

The drug formulary commitees have always seemed to be more focused on treatment with prevention not viewed as being all that much of a priority. It will be interesting to see how they handle some of these products such as Gardasil, which appears to be a truly innovative breakthrough product.

From the Victoria Times Colonist:
Island doctors want the province to pay for a new vaccine to protect girls from genital warts and cervical cancer, a disease which kills 400 Canadian women each year.

But the human papilloma virus or HPV vaccine, approved by Health Canada for females aged nine to 26 years, costs about $400 for three doses. ...more