Gardasil
® (Quadrivalent Human Papillomavirus [Types 6, 11, 16, and 18] Recombinant Vaccine) is a vaccine that has been licensed to prevent
cervical cancer,
genital warts, and various precancerous genital lesions caused by certain types of human papillomavirus (
HPV for short).
Gardasil is approved for use in girls and women age 9 to 26.
Who Makes Gardasil Vaccine?
Gardasil is manufactured by Merck & Co., Inc.
Gardasil is a vaccine that protects against certain
types of HPV infections. It works by stimulating the immune system to produce antibodies to fight off the HPV virus. HPV is a virus that can be sexually transmitted and can cause female genital warts, male genital warts, cervical cancer, and various precancerous genital growths.
There are many different types of HPV virus, and Gardasil does not protect against all of them. However, Gardasil does protect against a few important HPV types (types 6, 11, 16, and 18). These four types of HPV were chosen because they cause about 70 percent of cervical cancers and 90 percent of genital warts.