The New HPV Vaccine Could Be 90% Effective

An even more effective vaccine against human papillomavirus (HPV), which can cause cervical cancer, may be on the horizon, according to new research published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. Merck announced that it’s investigating a 9-valent HPV vaccine that protects against nine total types of HPV—five more than the current one on the market.

The current vaccine, GARDASIL, also manufactured by Merck, is effective against 70% of cervical and other HPV-related cancers and protects against two of the main types that cause cancer—type 16 and 18—as well as two more that cause most cases of genital warts, types 6 and 11. The potential new vaccine, which isn’t named yet, will protect against approximately 90% of cervical cancers, says study author Elmar Joura, an associate professor of gynecology at the Medical University of Vienna in Austria (who received grant support, lecture fees and advisory board fees from Merck). It protects against the HPV types 6, 11, 16, 18, 31, 33, 45, 52 and 58.

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Coverage against those extra strains could be good news for women worldwide, as some races are prone to different types of HPV. In East Asia, HPV 52 and 58 are more common than in the U.S. or Europe, Joura writes in an email to TIME. “The good thing is that the nine valent vaccine will equalize these differences,” Joura writes. “The grade of protection will be the same worldwide.”

In the study, Joura and his team analyzed data from 12,514 women and found that of those ages 15-26 who had precancers, 32% had more than one type of HPV—that number was 19% for women between the ages of 24 to 45.

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The FDA is currently reviewing the vaccine, and Joura expects them to reach a decision by the end of 2014. “The vaccine will hopefully be available soon after,” he wrote.