Pricing of HPV Vaccines in Europe: Back to the Future?

摘要

1 HPV Background: Human papilloma viruses (HPV) can cause sexually transmitted infections, which in some cases persist and progress to cancer. Among the 201 HPV genotypes so far identified, more than 40 have been classified as high- and low-risk types according to their risk of progression to cancer [1]. Cervical cancer (CC) is the second most common cancer in women worldwide (about 55,000 new cases every year in Europe), and almost 100% of these are caused by HPV infection [2], which is also associated with other much less frequent cancers such as anal (around 90% of cases related to HPV in Europe), vulvar (15%), vaginal (70%), and penile (30-40%) cancers. Finally, HPV infection causes benign lesions such as genital warts (GWs) and recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRPs).