Health Highlights: Oct. 16, 2009

Oct. 17 -- Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments, compiled by editors of HealthDay:

FDA Approves Cervarix Vaccine

The cervical cancer vaccine Cervarix has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, drug maker GlaxoSmithKline said Friday. The company expects to launch the vaccine in the United States later this year.

U.S. approval of Cervarix, already sold in nearly 100 other nations, was delayed since 2007 because the FDA wanted additional data from Glaxo, the Associated Press reported. Merck's cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil has been available in the United States since 2006.

Both vaccines block human papilloma virus (HPV) strains 16 and 18, which cause 75 percent of cervical cancers. Cervarix is also 70 percent effective in blocking other HPV strains that can cause cancer.

The price for Cervarix in the United States has not been discussed by Glaxo, the AP reported.

In 2008, nearly 4,000 women died of cervical cancer in the United States.

-----

Placebo Effect Detected in Spinal Cord

The placebo effect isn't in your head; it's in your spinal cord, suggests a German study.

The study included 15 men who had the same ointment rubbed on two areas of their forearms. The men were told that each area had a different cream -- a "lidocaine" cream that was a strong local anesthetic and a non-medicinal control cream. After application of the creams, a hot stimulus was placed on both areas of the forearm and kept there for 20 seconds, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Even though both creams were identical, the men said the lidocaine ointment reduced pain by an average of 26 percent. Using MRI, the researchers detected less activity in the men's spinal cords when they believed they were being protected by the lidocaine.

The findings show that a painful stimulus just needs to get to the spinal cord, not all the way to the brain, to be influenced by the placebo effect, the researchers wrote, the Times reported.