Source: Philadelphia Business Journal
Author: John George

The Food and Drug Administration granted marketing approval Friday to Cervarix, the cervical cancer vaccine developed by GlaxoSmithKline.

The London pharmaceutical company, which has major operations in the Philadelphia region, said the vaccine will be on the market before the end of the year. The FDA approved the drug for use in women and girls ages 10 to 25.

GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) will have a challenge taking market share away from Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK), which launched its cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil in 2006.

Gardasil had worldwide sales of $1.4 billion for Merck last year.

Cervarix, which was previously approved in markets outside the United States including Europe, Japan and Australia, had sales of more than $200 million in 2007.