With the recent doing and undoing of a mandatory cervical cancer vaccine for teenage girls in Texas, the same looks to be happening in the country of India.

Girls between the ages of 11 and 14 would be vaccinated against the virus that causes cervical cancer (HPV) if the new Indian program is implemented by the government there.

Is this just the latest attempt by the western pharmaceutical companies to "mandate" vaccinations for profit purposes of is there really a need for this? With an estimated 70% of cervical cancer being attributed to HPV, is mandatory vaccinations the answer? In the U.S. state of Texas, the term "mandatory" did not sit right with constituents.

Karolinska Institute in Sweden researchers report they have identified a molecule that can be used as a cancer vaccination agent against growing cancer tumors. The initial results are based on animal experiments, but the discover may lead to promising new methods of halting the spread of cancer. This new study is a continuation of an original discovery that first identified the TEIPP-T cell and by Karolinska Institute in 1998.

"So far we've only conducted research on mice, so it's too early to get our hopes up too much," says Elisabeth Wolpert at the Microbiology and Tumour Biology Centre. "However, the study does point toward new possible ways of developing a treatment for advanced tumor diseases."

According to Greystone Associates, a medical and healthcare technology consulting firm providing services in strategic planning, venture development, product commercialization, and technology assessment - is addressing the possible challenges facing cancer vaccines coming to market in the statement, "In spite of the market hype and wishful thinking, the results of clinical trials for cancer vaccines to date have been mixed and often disappointing. While the challenge of creating and successfully proving the efficacy of a vaccine that can effectively treat America's second-deadliest disease is perhaps without medical precedent, a close look at the dynamics and regulatory environment of the clinical trial process provides insight into possible reasons why the first approvable, truly therapeutic cancer vaccine may still be years away." Seems the first problem is proving the efficiency of cancer vaccines in clinical trails, given results that can not be measured with true analytical accuracy or precision among patients. The second problem appears to be governmental and corporate.
 
"Cancer vaccines are playing by rules which in some ways place them at a distinct disadvantage relative to the therapeutic value they have been designed to deliver," explains George Perros, Greystone Associates Managing Director. "These issues, which will require a strong working relationship between vaccine developers and key FDA and NCI decision makers to resolve, must be addressed if the promise of cancer vaccines is to be fully realized."

I am not the least bit interested in easing the way for companies in a rush to get drugs to market so they can enhance their financial bottom line. I want drugs that make it to market to be thoroughly tested and proven safe. But I will be aggravated to learn that there are factors slowing the process that could have been avoided.

In another possible breakthrough in the fight against cancer, Mater Medical Research Institute's  Professor Derek Hart, of Brisbane, Australia, announced a clinical trial is underway for a metastatic prostate cancer vaccine. In laboratory testing, the vaccine showed positive results in treating cancer cells. In the phase-one prostate cancer vaccine trial, 12 patients will be given three vaccines at intervals of four weeks. The first clinical trial, to determine the safety of the vaccine for humans, and if it will indeed generate the required immune response, is set to be completed at the end of the year.


The first breakthrough for a cancer vaccine came from Australia, when a vaccine to prevent cervical cancer was announced. Australia's scientists attribute these phenomenal breakthroughs on the support and funding researchers in that country receive for cancer research.