Trials and tribulations: an expose of the HPV vaccine trials by the 72nd Parliamentary Standing Committee Report.

ABSTRACT

In mid-2009, the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine “demonstration projects” were conducted by the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), a Seattle-based non-governmental organisation, in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the state governments of Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. The projects were funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The vaccines used, Gardasil and Cervarix, were donated to PATH by the manufacturing companies; in this case, GlaxoSmithKline and Merck Sharp and Dohme (MSD). These HPV vaccines were administered to approximately 23,000 young girls, of between 10 and 14 years of age, in the district of Khammam in Andhra Pradesh, and in the district of Vadodara in Gujarat.