The vaccine is not approved for use in boys, although Merck hopes one day to change that. If the company is successful, analysts expect that sales could surpass $4 billion by 2010.

Cervical cancer is the second-leading cause of death in women across the globe, affecting an estimated 470,000 women and killing 233,000 each year. Widespread use of Pap smears has reduced its toll in richer nations. In the US, about 9,710 women contract cervical cancer each year, and some 3,700 die. Private health insurers are likely to cover the vaccine for 11-to-12-year-old girls, although older women may have to pay for it themselves. GlaxoSmithKline, based in London, is also developing a vaccine against cervical cancer that it expects to submit for FDA approval at the end of the year.

In India, you have to wait, tests on

• Vaccine-maker Merck has tied up with ICMR to conduct trials in India

• Trials to start in 2 months, first one to take a yr, follow-up to take four years

• But doctors say cancer medicines are usually available in India soon after they are available in the West; so FDA approval may hasten availablity