France backs Merck's Gardasil over Glaxo rival

PARIS, Jan 14 (Reuters) - French health authorities on Monday backed the use of Merck & Co's (MRK.N) cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil over GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK.L) rival product Cervarix.

France's High Council for Public Health said in a bulletin that girls of 14 years should be vaccinated against cervical cancer using a vaccine that targets four viruses, effectively endorsing Merck's product.

Both Cervarix and Gardasil protect against cancer-causing strains of the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus (HPV) and are designed to be given to girls and young women.

But Gardasil targets four strains of HPV -- two responsible for cervical cancer and two causing the less serious condition of genital warts. Glaxo's product addresses two cancer strains.

Gardasil is sold in Europe by Sanofi Pasteur MSD (SPMSD), a 50/50 joint venture between Sanofi-Aventis (SASY.PA) and Merck.

The French health council said the vaccine should also be offered to females of 15 to 23, before their first sexual contact or at the latest within a year of first having sex.

Cervarix is one of Glaxo's biggest new drug hopes and is already approved in some 45 countries, including the 27 member states of the European Union.

But it has been trailing Gardasil, which is already well established in the United States, the world's top drugs market. (Editing by David Holmes)