Merck's Next Gen HPV Vaccine Candidate, V-503, May Replace Gardasil®, Mid 2014

The V-503 vaccine candidate might see an FDA filing shortly after year end, if all goes well.

Apparently, Merck has seen promising interim data on the candidate. In early trials, V-503 is effective against many more strains of the potentially cancer causing human papillomavirus, as compared to the older, on market Gardasil^® vaccine. Do go read all about it, from Yahoo! News.

. . . .The article said Merck expects health-care providers to eventually switch to V503 if the product receives marketing approval. 

Some analysts expect its annual sales could exceed $1 billion, the paper said. Gardasil, launched in 2006, was the first vaccine to protect against human papillomavirus, or HPV, a sexually transmitted virus that can cause cervical cancer in women and other less-common types of cancer in males and females. . . .

We will keep you posted, but V-503, should it win an FDA nod by mid-year 2014, would likely largely replace existing Gardasil revenue -- and only add incrementally, to Merck's franchise (even while knocking out additional stranis), given that there is already an on-market competitor here. That's my S.W.A.G.