[Michael Shier] was commenting on a study published in today's New England Journal of Medicine which shows early testing of an experimental vaccine is 100 per cent effective against human papillomavirus, or HPV, the virus that causes cervical cancer.

Financially alone, Shier says, the impact could be huge. Ontario could reduce the amount of spending on cervical cancer by at least $120 million annually, he says, if the need for treating or detecting cervical cancer was eradicated.

The vaccine for cervical cancer used in this study is targeted at HPV type 16, the virus responsible for about half the cases of cervical cancer. It is being tested on women ages 16 to 23 at 16 sites around the United States in a study led by Merck &Co. and the University of Washington. Merck developed the vaccine and funded the research. The women were watched for about a year and a half.