Finally, Dr. Wheeler wrote, "it is important to consider that the findings reported by Kreimer et al. are limited to end points of persistent HPV infection. It remains unknown whether these observations will translate, over the long term, to the prevention of disease end points such as cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 and higher (CIN3+) and whether HPV vaccine protection, with fewer than three doses, will be sustainable even for homologous HPV vaccine types 16 and 18."
The study was sponsored by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the U.S. National Institutes of Health Office of Research on Women’s Health, with vaccine donated by the manufacturer. The manufacturer also provided financial support related to regulatory submission. Two coauthors on Dr. Kreimer and colleagues’ study, John T. Schiller and Douglas R. Lowy, disclosed being named inventors on U.S. government–owned HPV vaccine patents licensed to GlaxoSmithKline and Merck, and for which the NCI receives licensing fees. No other financial disclosures were reported. Dr. Wheeler did not report any relevant financial disclosures.