Successful trials of a new vaccine to prevent cervical cancer have fuelled hopes of a breakthrough in the battle against the disease, it emerged today.
All of the women given the drug so far have not developed the human papilloma virus (HPV) - the cause of most cases of cervical cancer.
The drug, owned by pharmaceutical company Merck Sharp & Dohme, is currently undergoing further tests.
Dr Anne Szarewski, a clinical consultant at Cancer Research UK, said if the vaccine proved a success in the next trial, it could be given to girls as young as 10 years-of-age to prevent them contracting the disease in later life.
She added: "The people who were given the vaccine - none developed any form of HPV.
"In the control group who were not given the vaccine some people did. "This vaccine is many years ahead of others."
She added: "It has undergone a fairly small trial - a Phase II trial - of around a few hundred people.
"A phase III trial of thousands is under way." The new research is being co-ordinated by Professor David Jenkins of the University of Nottingham.
It involves the testing 6,000 women worldwide including in Nottingham, Glasgow and London.
Around half a million women develop cervical cancer across the globe each year.
PA