Second cancer vaccine welcomed

The co-inventor of the world's first cervical cancer vaccine and 2006 Australian of the Year, Professor Ian Frazer, has welcomed the availability of a second cervical cancer vaccine.

Professor Ian Frazer, who is Director of UQ's Diamantina Institute for Cancer, Immunology and Metabolic Medicine, said: “I am pleased that a further vaccine has become available in Australia to help in the battle against cervical cancer, based on the virus-like particle technology the late Dr Jian Zhou and I developed in Australia in the 1990s.

"Vaccination, together with regular pap smears, will be a woman’s best defence against cervical cancer in the future.

“Both vaccines now available are based on the same virus like particle technology, and both protect against the two HPV types most commonly associated with cervical cancer. Each vaccine has been proven safe and effective in clinical trials."

Media: Further information, Fiona Kennedy 07 3365 1088 or Jan King 07 3365 1120.