In work that was initiated in the mid 1980s, the vaccine was developed, in parallel, by researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center, the University of Rochester, the University of Queensland in Australia, and the U.S. National Cancer Institute. In 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first preventive HPV vaccine, marketed by Merck & Co. under the trade name Gardasil. According to a Merck press release, in the second quarter of 2007, it had been approved in 80 countries, many under fast-track or expedited review. Early in 2007, GlaxoSmithKline filed for approval in the United States for a similar preventive HPV vaccine, known as Cervarix. In June 2007 this vaccine was licenced in Australia, and it was approved in the European Union in September 2007. Cervarix was approved for use in the U.S. in October 2009.
One of the first signs of HPV came in Italy in 1842 when a doctor noticed that married women and prostitutes developed cervical cancer, but nuns did not. While the doctor did not successfully determine the cause, this research was one of the first signs that cancers could be sexually transmitted. The next significant development came in 1907 when Giuseppe Ciuffo determined that skin warts and genital warts were related and the likely cause of both types of warts was a virus. This hypothesis was confirmed in 1949 when technology became available to observe the virus itself. The overall study of papillomaviruses took a large step forward in 1930 when Peyton Rous discovered that the viruses could cause skin cancer in rabbits.
However, it wasn’t until Harald zur Hausen, the German researcher who discovered the human papillomavirus, was awarded half of the $1.4 million Nobel Prize in Medicine. The discovery eventually led to the development of two vaccines against HPV strains that cause most cases of cervical cancer, which is the second most common cancer among women. The other half of the award went to Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier, two French virologists, for their part in the discovery of HIV.
Harald zur Hausen went against current dogma and postulated that oncogenic human papilloma virus (HPV) caused cervical cancer. He realized that HPV-DNA could exist in a non-productive state in the tumours, and should be detectable by specific searches for viral DNA. He found HPV to be a heterogeneous family of viruses. Only some HPV types cause cancer.
Harald zur Hausen pursued his idea of HPV for over 10 years by searching for different HPV types. This research was difficult due to the fact that only parts of the viral DNA were integrated into the host genome. He found novel HPV-DNA in cervix cancer biopsies, and thus discovered the new, tumourigenic HPV16 type in 1983. In 1984, he cloned HPV16 and 18 from patients with cervical cancer. The HPV types 16 and 18 were consistently found in about 70% of cervical cancer biopsies throughout the world.
His discovery has led to characterization of the natural history of HPV infection, an understanding of mechanisms of HPV-induced carcinogenesis and the development of prophylactic vaccines against HPV acquisition. Harald zur Hausen's determination and willingness to share his discoveries led the development of Merck's HPV vaccine Gardasil and also Cervarix.