Merck Expands Broad Access to HPV Vaccines Globally

Merck recently reaffirmed its commitment to enable broad equitable access to its human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines. 

Under the initiative, Merck will expand its vaccines manufacturing facility in Virginia to 120,000 square feet and add 150 new jobs to further increase the capacity and supply of its HPV vaccines.   

“As we continue to increase production of our HPV vaccines, we are prioritizing access in countries with a high burden of disease, including countries eligible for support from Gavi and UNICEF,” Priya Agrawal, MD, global lead for HPV Vaccines at Merck, said in the announcement.  

“Through our long-term agreement with UNICEF, we plan to provide 91.5 million doses of our HPV vaccines for use in Gavi-supported countries from 2021 to 2025, and we have offered additional doses beyond that agreement as needed to help meet growing demand,” Agrawal continued.  

So far, Merck has expanded and maximized its existing facilities, nearly doubling the supply of HPV vaccines from 2017 to 2020. In 2019, Merck committed over $1 billion and added nearly 100 jobs to expand production capacity at existing manufacturing facilities and build new facilities to address the global demand for HPV vaccines.  

The company expects the supply of its HPV vaccines to double between 2020 and 2023 as it expands capacity at existing facilities and new facilities come online.  

In December 2014, the FDA approved Merck’s Gardasil 9 vaccine for girls and young women 9– 26 years of age to prevent cervical, vulvar, vaginal, and anal cancers. Notably, this vaccine includes the greatest number of HPV types in any available HPV vaccine.  

After HPV types 16 and 18, the five additional HPV types in Gardasil 9 are the most common cervical cancer-causing types globally. And seven HPV types in Gardasil 9 (HPV 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52, and 58) cause nearly 90% of cervical cancer cases and 80% of high-grade cervical lesions worldwide. 

These seven HPV types also cause 85–90% of HPV-related vulvar cancers, 80–85% of HPV-related vaginal cancers, and 90–95% of HPV-related anal cancers.