Medicine: The New Cancer Fighter (And Other Hot Drugs On The Way)

As encouraging as those results were, however, Gardasil may face its toughest challenge after it reaches the market. Public-health officials are considering adding the inoculation to the roster of shots that children receive before they become sexually active, since that's when the vaccine is most effective at preventing infection. Religious and parent groups, however, are concerned that Gardasil may encourage sex by promoting the idea that it's risk-free •SHINGLES In Italy it's called St. Anthony's fire, a vivid description for the red, blistery and often painful rash that 1 million adults in the U.S. each year come to know as shingles. Merck is awaiting FDA approval for its shingles shot, Zostavax, which is designed to prevent shingles in those who are most vulnerable to the disease--adults over age 60. Shingles occurs when the chicken-pox virus from a childhood infection is reactivated--usually by the decline in immunity that comes with age--and travels from the nerve cells where it has remained dormant, all the way to the skin, where it blossoms into the condition's hallmark lesions. Zostavax contains a crippled form of the chicken pox's varicella zoster virus, and jump-starts the body's immune system, boosting the defense cells specifically designed to attack varicella. In trials with nearly 40,000 subjects, the vaccine reduced rash and pain from shingles by more than 60% in elderly adults. •AIDS Doctors are close to adding one more powerful ingredient to their antiviral recipe against AIDS. Researchers at Pfizer have developed the first in a new class of compounds that would prevent HIV from entering and infecting a healthy cell. So far, the medications that have saved millions of AIDS patients around the world have thwarted HIV at the end of its reproductive cycle; Pfizer's compound, a once-a-day pill called Miraviroc, targets the beginning of the disease process. Now in the last stage of being tested in patients, the compound, in combination with other anti-HIV drugs, could become a significant roadblock in preventing HIV infections from mushrooming into full-blown cases of AIDS. •INSOMNIA Getting a good night's sleep is an ordeal for 70 million Americans. Medications like Ambien can help, but because they target neurons in the brain that control both wakefulness and muscle relaxation, sometimes they work too well, leaving you groggy the next morning. Neurocrine's Indiplon avoids that aftereffect by selectively targeting just the nerve receptors in the brain that regulate sleep. Patients using Indiplon were able to fall asleep within 15 minutes and sleep an average of an hour longer than those taking other sleep aids. The company, which expects to hear by May whether the FDA will approve its drug, plans to market Indiplon in two forms: a short-acting version and an extended-release form for those with more serious insomnia.