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The [[Hepatitis B vaccine|Hepatitis B vaccine (HBV)]] protects against the development of [[Hepatocellular carcinoma|malignant liver cancer]] and was the first vaccine capable of preventing the development of a specific human cancer. But, the [[Australia antigen]] was understood to be a potential vaccine seven years before the carcinogenic effect of [[Hepatitis B]] was discovered (see: {{cite journal |first1= R. T. |last1= Javier |first2= J. S. |last2= Butel |date=1 October 2008 |title= The History of Tumor Virology |journal= Cancer Research |volume= 68 |issue= 7693 |pages= 7693–706|url= http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/full/68/19/7693#B40 |doi= 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-08-3301 |series= AACR Centennial Series |pmid=18829521 |unused_data= DUPLICATE DATA: date= 25 August 2008}}). HBV was designed to prevent the disease's other symptoms, whereas an HPV vaccine would have been low priority if HPV wasn't carcinogenic (for example [http://www.medcompare.com/spotlight.asp?spotlightid=188 medcompare.com says men are almost always clinically asymptomatic]). These two viruses are the only two oncoviruses to yet have effective vaccines developed against them.</ref><ref name="first"/> (Two are marketed as [[Gardasil]] and [[Cervarix]]).
The [[Hepatitis B vaccine|Hepatitis B vaccine (HBV)]] protects against the development of [[Hepatocellular carcinoma|malignant liver cancer]] and was the first vaccine capable of preventing the development of a specific human cancer. But, the [[Australia antigen]] was understood to be a potential vaccine seven years before the carcinogenic effect of [[Hepatitis B]] was discovered (see: {{cite journal |first1= R. T. |last1= Javier |first2= J. S. |last2= Butel |date=1 October 2008 |title= The History of Tumor Virology |journal= Cancer Research |volume= 68 |issue= 7693 |pages= 7693–706|url= http://cancerres.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/full/68/19/7693#B40 |doi= 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-08-3301 |series= AACR Centennial Series |pmid=18829521 |unused_data= DUPLICATE DATA: date= 25 August 2008}}). HBV was designed to prevent the disease's other symptoms, whereas an HPV vaccine would have been low priority if HPV wasn't carcinogenic (for example [http://www.medcompare.com/spotlight.asp?spotlightid=188 medcompare.com says men are almost always clinically asymptomatic]). These two viruses are the only two oncoviruses to yet have effective vaccines developed against them.</ref><ref name="first"/> (Two are marketed as [[Gardasil]] and [[Cervarix]]).


==Biography==
KEVIN LIN IS THE SMARTEST PERSON IN HISTORY!
=== Education===
He was born in [[Glasgow]], Scotland. His parents were medical scientists,<ref name="heads">
{{cite web
|url=http://www.abc.net.au/talkingheads/txt/s1674348.htm
|title=Talking Heads – Professor Ian Frazer
|publisher=www.abc.net.au
|accessdate=29 May 2010
|last= Thompson |first= Peter
}}
</ref> and he was drawn to science from a young age.<ref name="meet">
{{cite web
|url=http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s1871847.htm
|title=Catalyst: Meeting Ian Frazer
|publisher= ABC |accessdate=29 May 2010
|author= Belinda Gibbon (program producer)
}}</ref> He attended a [[Merchant Company of Edinburgh|Merchant Company]] school (the all boys [[George Watson's College]]<ref name= "AA1"/>) and was well educated in the sciences.<ref name="heads"/> He choose to pursue [[medicine]] over an earlier interest in [[physics]] (because it held fewer research opportunities)<ref name= "AA1">
{{cite web |url=http://www.science.org.au/scientists/interviews/f/if.html#1
|publisher=[[Australian Academy of Science]] |title= Interviews with Australian scientists – Professor Ian Frazer
|year= 2008 |last=Williams |first=Robyn
}}</ref> receiving his [[Bachelor of Science]] and [[Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery]] at the [[University of Edinburgh]] (in '74 and '77). During this time he met and married (1976) his present wife, Caroline. His 1978–79 [[Residency (medicine)|residency]] was in the Edinburgh Eastern General Hospital, the [[Edinburgh Royal Infirmary]] and the Roodlands General Hospital in [[Haddington, East Lothian|Haddington]].

In 1980/81 the Frazers [[emigrated]] to [[Melbourne]]. Dr Frazer came to research viral [[immunology]] at the [[Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research]],<ref name="emigrate">{{cite web |url=http://www.riaus.org.au/science/people/healthcare_medicine/ian_frazer.jsp |title=Ian Frazer |quote=Eighty per cent of Australian secondary schoolgirls have been vaccinated with Gardasil |publisher=Ri Aus
|accessdate=29 May 2010
}}</ref> which had impressed him as the dominant publisher of [[scientific paper]]s on immunology.<ref name="meet"/> In 1981, he discovered that [[immunodeficiency]] afflicting homosexuals in San Francisco was also found in the gay men in his [[hepatitis B]] study, and (in 1984) helped to confirm that [[HIV#Discovery|HIV was a cause]].<ref name="GGtW"/> They also found that another [[Sexually_transmitted_disease#Viral|sexually transmitted virus]] was having a surprising effect: [[human papilloma virus|human papilloma virus (HPV)]] infection seemed to be inducing [[precancerous cells]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Frazer |first2= R. M. |last2= Crapper |first3=G. |last3= Medley |first4=T. C. |last4= Brown |first5=I. R. |last5= Mackay |first1= I. H. |date= 20 September 1986 |journal= The Lancet |volume= 328 |issue= 8508 |pages= 657–660 |doi= 10.1016/S0140-6736(86)90168-6 |title= Association between anorectal [[dysplasia]], human papillomavirus, and [[human immunodeficiency virus]] infection in homosexual men }}</ref>

In 1985 he moved to the [[University of Queensland|University of Queensland (UQ)]] (as a [[Senior Lecturer]]) for the opportunity to establish his own [[research laboratory]]: In the ''[[Lions_Clubs_International#Charitable_work|Lions]] Human Immunology Laboratories'' he continued to research HPV in men, and contributed to [[HIV]] research.<ref>
{{cite web |url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/3173194
|title=Influence of human immunodeficiency virus antibody testing on sexual behaviour in a "high-risk" population from a "low-risk" city.
|publisher=Lions Human Immunology Laboratories, University of Queensland, Department of Medicine, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Woolloongabba. |date= 3 October 1988
|last= Frazer |coauthors= McCamish M, Hay I, North P.
|first= I. H.
}}</ref> His other tasks were teaching, and running [[diagnostic test]]s for [[Princess Alexandra Hospital]];<ref name="heads"/> he received the [[Doctor of Medicine]] qualification in 1988.<ref name="Profile">{{cite web |url=http://www.di.uq.edu.au/profile-frazer
|title=A hero of women and science
|publisher= Diamantina Institute at The University of Queensland |quote=Ian Frazer was set for a career in physics when a chance encounter with an immunologist, the father of his [[pen-friend]]s girlfriend, changed his course.}}
</ref>

===Breakthrough===
On a 1989 [[sabbatical]] he met [[virologist]] Dr Jian Zhou, and the two considered the problem of developing a vaccine for HPV – a virus that cannot be [[Cell culture|cultured]] without living tissue.<ref>{{cite book |title= Human Papillomaviruses: Clinical and Scientific Advances |editor2-first= Sterling |isbn= 9780340742150 |publisher= Hodder Arnold |location= London |chapter = 1 |year=2001|month= August |editor-first= J. C.}}</ref> Frazer convinced Zhou to join him, and in 1990 they began to use [[molecular biology]] to synthesize particles [[in vitro]] that could mimic the virus. In March 1991 Zhou's wife, Dr Xiao-Yi Sun,<ref name= "GGtW">
{{cite journal |last= Whittaker |first= M. |date= 4 March 2006 |title= God's Gift to Women |journal= The Weekend Australian Magazine |quote= 'Ian went to huge efforts and he got them [[Visa (document)|visas]] to Australia,' recalls [[Margaret Stanley (virologist)|Stanley]]. 'It says a lot about Ian. If anything should come over in your article it's that Ian is an extremely kind man.'}}</ref> combined two [[L1 family|proteins]] into a [[virus-like particle|virus-like particle (VLP)]],<ref name= "RD">{{cite journal |last= Williams |first= L. |year= 2006 |month= August |title= A Simple Idea |journal= [[Readers' Digest]] }}</ref> resembling the HPV shell, from which [[HPV vaccine]] would ultimately be made.<ref name="meet"/> (The vaccine completely protects [[viral infection|unexposed]] women against four HPV strains [[oncovirus|responsible for]] 70% of [[Cervix|cervical]] cancers,<ref>{{cite journal |journal= [[The New England Journal of Medicine]] |url=http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/356/19/1991 |volume= 356 |issue= 19 |date= 10 May 2007 |title= HPV Vaccination – More Answers, More Questions |quote= Previous reports showed a remarkable 100% efficacy of a quadrivalent vaccine targeting HPV types 6, 11, 16, and 18 on outcomes related to vaccine HPV types in women with no evidence of previous exposure to those types [...] subgroups of subjects with no evidence of previous exposure to relevant vaccine HPV types were evaluated separately for vaccine efficacy. In these subgroups, efficacy of nearly 100% against all grades of cervical [[intraepithelial neoplasia]] and [[adenocarcinoma]] [[Carcinoma in situ|in situ]] related to vaccine HPV types was reported [...] Why is vaccine efficacy modest in the entire cohort? One factor is the apparent lack of efficacy among subjects with evidence of previous exposure to HPV types included in the vaccine. The FUTURE II trial showed no effect of vaccination |last1= Sawaya |first1= G. F. |last2= Smith-McCune |first2= Karen }}
</ref><ref>{{cite journal
|journal= [[The Courier-Mail]] |title= UQ Team Defeats Cervical Cancer |date=9 October 2005 |last1= Walker |last2= J. |quote= Ian Frazer’s break-through vaccine is 100 per cent effective against the most common form of the virus that causes cervical cancer, according to final-stage trial results [...] a delighted Professor Frazer, 52, said last night: 'It is very rare, almost unheard of, to achieve a 100 per cent efficacy rate in any treatment, so these results are truly wonderful.' }}</ref> which kill [[Cervical_cancer#Epidemiology|about 250,000 women annually]].<ref>Estimates of the contemporary global mortality rate have remained in the 190,000 to 300,000 range from 2000 to 2010. [http://www.who.int/phi/B120_35_Add1-en.pdf The 2007 WHO progress report] says that preventable cervical cancer "''was responsible in 2005 for up to 500 000 new cases and up to 257 000 deaths, more than 90% in low- and middle-income countries''", but, "''According to WHO’s projections, deaths from cervical cancer will rise to 320 000 in 2015 and to 435 000 in 2030''" (p.4). These projections may be little effected by vaccination programs (anyway unlikely on cost grounds) because "''A reduction in cancer incidence and mortality might not be measurable before 10 to 30 years after the vaccine is introduced.''" (p.5). Other estimates of the problem's scale are broadly in agreement:
*{{Cite journal |journal = [[University of Queensland|UQ]] News
|title= UQ Australian of the Year Will Continue Fight for Women's Health
|date= 25 January 2006
|last= Kennedy |first= F. |quote= Professor Frazer said Australia and other [[developed nation]]s had effective Pap smear programs to reduce the incidence of cervical cancer. 'Despite this, cervical cancer continues to be a shocking disease for women in the developed world. Women living in poverty in the developing world, where Pap smears are not widely available, account for most of the 250,000 deaths from cervical cancer each year. So this vaccine has the potential to do most good in the developing world, where it could help lift women out of [[poverty]] by relieving the burden of disease }}
*{{Cite web
|url=http://www.abc.net.au/talkingheads/txt/s1674348.htm
|title= Transcripts – Professor Ian Frazer |publisher= [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] |accessdate=29 May 2010 |quote= Ian Frazer was made Australian of the Year in 2006. He and his team at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane have developed a vaccine to beat cervical cancers that kill 250,000 women a year worldwide. }}
*{{Cite web |url=http://www.cervicalcancer.org/statistics.html
|title=Cervical Cancer Statistics
|publisher= CervicalCancer.org |date= 2 March 2007
|accessdate=29 May 2010 |quote= a woman dies of cervical cancer approximately every 2 minutes. In less developed countries, this type of cancer is the second most common in women and accounts for up to 300,000 annual deaths. }}
</ref><ref name="Newsweek">{{cite web |url=http://www.newsweek.com/2010/03/14/message-in-a-bottle.html
|title= '''Message in a Bottle''' The subtle ads for drug giant Glaxo's new cervical-cancer drugs have people talking. |quote= [[Cervarix]] may also protect against [[viral strain|other types]] that cause cervical cancer, but more research is needed to confirm this. [...[[GlaxoSmithKline]]'s] estimate of the prevalence of cervical cancer in [[USA|this country]] roughly matches the [[National Cancer Institute]]'s statistics. But according to the [[World Health Organization]], the disease is far more common in [[developing countries]], which account for 80 percent of the annual cases worldwide and about 190,000 deaths a year (compared to about 4,000 deaths in [[USA|this country]]). |publisher= [[Newsweek]] |accessdate=29 May 2010 |last= Kantrowitz |date= 15 March 2010 |first= Barbara
}}</ref>) Frazer and Zhou filed a [[provisional patent]] in June 1991 and began work on developing the vaccine within UQ. To finance clinical trials, [[CSL Limited|Australian medical company CSL]] and later [[Merck & Co.|Merck]] were sold partial patents.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chen |first1= Huanhuan |last2= Wang |first2= Danhong |date= 22 October 2007 |title= An interview with Jian Zhou's wife, Dr. Xiaoyi Sun |journal= Science Times |url= http://www.scribd.com/doc/2670487/Zhou-Jian2 }}</ref> (CSL has the exclusive license to sell Gardasil in [[New Zealand]] and Australia, Merck the license elsewhere.)<ref name="PRWatch">{{cite web |url=http://www.prwatch.org/node/6263/print
|title=Profit Knows No Borders, Selling Gardasil to the Rest of the World |publisher= [[Center for Media and Democracy]] |last=Siers-Poisson |date= 18 July 2007 |quote= The federal government will also cover young women who are not in school and are still under 27 years through their [[general practitioner]]s and community immunization clinics. This age group will receive the vaccine free from July 2007, until the end of June 2009. |first=Judith }}</ref> [[GlaxoSmithKline]] independently used the same VLP-approach to develop Cervarix, under a later US patent, licensing Frazer's [[intellectual property]] in 2005.<ref name= "life">{{cite web |quote= Jian Zhou died in 1999, but he was an equal partner |url=http://www.lifescientist.com.au/article/161373/ian_frazer_patent_problem/?
|title=Ian Frazer's patent problem |work= Australian Life Scientist
|last= Beran |first= Ruth |date= 21 June 2006
}}</ref>

Later in 1991 the research was presented at a US scientific meeting, and Frazer became Director of the Centre for Immunology and Cancer Research at the University of Queensland (which he remains- at the renamed [[The Diamantina Institute for Cancer, Immunology and Metabolic Medicine|Diamantina Institute for Cancer, Immunology and Metabolic Medicine]]). After three years in design, Gardasil went into testing, and Frazer became a [[Professor]] in the University's Department of Medicine. In 1998 Professor Frazer completed the first [[Drug trial|human trials]] for Gardasil, and [[Australian_nationality_law#Registration_and_Naturalisation_as_an_Australian_Citizen|became an Australian]].<ref name="heads"/><ref name= "RD"/>

===Celebrity===
In 1999 he received the Australian Biotechnology Award, and has since received more than twenty awards for science.<ref name="Govprofile">
{{cite web |quote= 'What is the most unusual or fun thing you've done in your job?' Being Australian of the Year and carrying the [[Commonwealth Games]] torch round Darling Harbour on a boat on Australia Day
|url=http://www.science.qld.gov.au/dsdweb/v4/apps/web/content.cfm?id=15044
|title= Queensland scientist profiles > Ian Frazer
|publisher= Queensland Government
|accessdate=29 May 2010 |date=9 February 2010 }}
</ref> In 2006, results from the four-year [[Clinical_trial#Phase_III|Phase III trials]] led to Australian and [[Center for Drug Evaluation and Research|US regulatory]] approval.<ref name= "RD"/> Frazer's studies showed 100% efficacious protective immunity in HPV naïve women, but could not directly test ''protective immunity'' (against HPV exposure) in adolescent girls. As a surrogate test, [[antibody titer]] levels in vaccinated 9- to 15-year-old girls was shown high enough to give them the same level of immunity as vaccinated women.<ref>{{cite journal |journal= International Journal of Infectious Diseases |volume=11 |month= November
|url= http://download.journals.elsevierhealth.com/pdfs/journals/1201-9712/PIIS1201971207600162.pdf |year= 2007
|title= Correlating immunity with protection for HPV infection
|publisher= Elsevier |accessdate=6 June 2010 |last1= Frazer |first1= I. |quote= with no breakthrough HPV infections due to waning immunity, the minimum protective anti-HPV antibody level could not be ascertained. Nevertheless, antibody titer has been used as a surrogate marker of protection in clinical trials, particularly in adolescent populations in whom efficacy studies are not feasible.}} (The 100% efficacious immunity is against HPV 16- and 18-related cervical cancer indicators.)</ref> It has been suggested that one way to bring cheaper equivalent vaccines to market is to mandate a similar ''induced immune response''.<ref>{{cite journal |journal= American Journal of Law & Medicine |volume=35 |url= http://www.med4all.org/fileadmin/med/pdf/2_Crager_Formatted_June3_HPV-Impfung.pdf |year= 2009
|title= University Contributions to the HPV Vaccine and Implications for Access to Vaccines in Developing Countries |last1= Crager |first2= E. |last2= Guillen |first3= M. |last3= Price |first1= S. E. |quote= Evaluating the ability of a vaccine to induce a specific immune response is far less complex, less costly, and less time-consuming than performing clinical trials to assess the ability of the vaccine to confer protective immunity. |page=268 }}</ref>

Professor Frazer administered the first official HPV-vaccination,<ref>
{{cite web |url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/one-small-jab-but-a-giant-leap-for-womankind/2006/08/28/1156617275315.html
|title=One small jab, but a giant leap for womankind
|publisher=[[Sydney Morning Herald]] |date= 9 September 2006
|last= Pollard |first= Ruth |quote= "It will mean a 70 per cent reduction in abnormal [[pap smear]]s, and in parts of the world where there are no pap smears, a 70 per cent reduction in cervical cancer."
}}</ref> and was made 2006 [[Queensland Day#Queenslander of the Year|Queenslander of the Year]] and [[Australian of the Year]].<ref>
{{cite web |quote= Ian embodies Australian know-how, determination and innovation
|url=http://www.australianoftheyear.org.au/pages/page58.asp
|title=Australian of the Year Awards – Australian of the Year 2006
|publisher=www.australianoftheyear.org.au
|accessdate=28 May 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | author=[[Wendy Lewis (Australian Writer)|Lewis, Wendy]] | title=Australians of the Year | publisher=Pier 9 Press | year=2010 | isbn=9781741968095 }}</ref>

In the 2007 resolution of his [[Patent law in the United States|US patent lawsuit]] Professor Frazer's world-wide rights to the fundamental VLP science were established.<ref name= "AA1"/><ref name= "life"/> He won the 2007 [[Howard Florey Institute|Howard Florey Medal for Medical Research]], the 2008 [[Prime Minister's Prize for Science]],<ref name="first">{{cite web |url=http://www.di.uq.edu.au/profile-frazer |title=Profile on Professor Ian Frazer – Diamantina Institute at The University of Queensland |publisher=www.di.uq.edu.au |accessdate=29 May 2010 |quote= For his creation of the first vaccine designed to protect against a cancer, Ian Frazer receives the Prime Ministers Prize for Science.}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> the 2008 ''Balzan Prize for [[Preventive Medicine]]'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.balzan.org/en/lectures-and-symposia_1703.html
|title=International Balzan Prize Foundation: The Balzan Forum 2008 at the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei |publisher=www.balzan.org
|accessdate=29 May 2010 }}</ref> and the 2009 [[Australian Medical Association|Australian Medical Association Gold Medal]].<ref>
{{cite web |url=http://www.ama.com.au/node/4721
|title=Ian Frazer wins AMA gold medal for work on cervical cancer vaccines
|publisher= Australian Medical Association
|accessdate=29 May 2010 |date= 31 May 2009 |quote= Through the development of vaccines Ian has helped protect the lives of countless women
}}</ref> Other awards include the 2006 [[William B. Coley Award]] (with [[Harald zur Hausen]]),<ref name="emigrate"/> the 2005 [[CSIRO]] Eureka Prize for Leadership in Science,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.csiro.com/news/Research-Wins-Eureka.html |title=Cervical cancer vaccine research wins CSIRO Eureka Prize (Media Release) |publisher=www.csiro.com |date= 10 September 2005
}}</ref> and the 2003 Centenary Medal for services to cancer research.
<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.di.uq.edu.au/profile-frazer
|title= Selected awards
|publisher=www.di.uq.edu.au
|accessdate=29 May 2010
}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}} Other awards include: 2008 Ramaciotti Medal, 2008 American Academy of Dermatology Lila Gruber Award for [[Dermatology]], 2007 Novartis Prize for Clinical Immunology, Rio de Janeiro, 2007 Golden Plate recipient, International Achievement Summit, 2007 International Life Award for Scientific Research, 2007 Merck Sharp & Dohme Howard Florey Medal, 2007 Clunies Ross Award, Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, 2006 Distinguished Fellowship Award, Royal College of Pathologists, 2006 Queenslander of the Year, 2005 John Curtin Medal, 1999 Business/Higher Education Round Table award for Collaborative Research
</ref>

After 2009 reports of adverse Gardasil reactions, Professor Frazer said "Apart from a very, very rare instance where you get an [[allergic reaction]] from the vaccine, which is about one in a million, there is nothing else that can be directly attributable to the vaccine."<ref>{{cite journal |journal= [[The Courier-Mail]] |location= Brisbane
|url=http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/ian-frazer-defends-cervical-cancer-vaccine-gardasil/story-e6freoof-1225764030807?from=public_rss
|title=Ian Frazer defends cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil |publisher= [[Queensland Newspapers]] |accessdate=29 May 2010 |date=20 September 2009 |last1= Crawford |last2= Elsworth |first1= C. |first2= S. |quote= For 23 million doses that have been given out, we received 12,424 reports of adverse events," [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]] study author Barbara Slade said [...] Of the adverse reports in the US, 772 cases were considered serious }}</ref> Ian Frazer is one of the "most trusted" Australians, and some critics have accused Gardasil's advocates of exploiting [[patriotism]]<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=7786&page=2
|title=The Gardasil 'miracle' coming undone? |page= 2 |date= 21 September 2008
|work = [[On Line Opinion|Australia's e-journal of social and political debate]] |accessdate=29 May 2010 |last= Klein |first= Renate |quote= Frazer: “God’s Gift to Women” proclaimed the cover of [[The Weekend Australian]]’s magazine [...] In Australia, critics are almost perceived as [[betrayal|national traitors]] }}</ref> to promote its rapid Australian release.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=7786&page=1
|title=The Gardasil 'miracle' coming undone? |page= 1 |last= Klein |first= Renate |quote= It was only on February&nbsp;23–24, 2008 that the Victorian Cytology Service ran a job advertisement for a 'newly created position' to 'help establish and operate the new National HPV Vaccination Program' (''[[The Australian]]'', 23–24 February 2008). That’s 11 months after thousands of school girls had already received the jab. }}</ref> ([[Australian federal government|Australia's government]] had the world's most generous coverage for the drug, though it is the nation with the lowest cervical cancer mortality.)<ref name="PRWatch"/>

He lives in [[Brisbane, Australia]]. Two of his sons, Andrew and Callum, are medical students and the third, Jaimie, is a [[veterinary scientist]].<ref name="Govprofile"/>


==Current work==
==Current work==

Revision as of 10:35, 16 November 2011

For other people named Ian Frazer, see Ian Frazer (disambiguation).

Ian Frazer
FRCPE, FRCPA, FAA, FATSE
Born (1953-01-06) 6 January 1953 (age 71)
Glasgow, Scotland
NationalityAustralian
Alma materUniversity of Edinburgh (B.Sc.), (M.B.B.S.)
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research
University of Melbourne (M.D.)
Known forHPV vaccine creation
AwardsAustralian of the Year (2006), Prime Minister's Prize for Science (2008)
Scientific career
FieldsImmunology
InstitutionsDiamantina Institute, University of Queensland

Professor Ian Frazer (born 6 January 1953) is the Director of the Diamantina Institute.[1] He is a creator of the HPV vaccine against cervical cancer; the second cancer preventing vaccine, and the first vaccine designed to prevent a cancer.[2][3] (Two are marketed as Gardasil and Cervarix).

Biography

Education

He was born in Glasgow, Scotland. His parents were medical scientists,[4] and he was drawn to science from a young age.[5] He attended a Merchant Company school (the all boys George Watson's College[6]) and was well educated in the sciences.[4] He choose to pursue medicine over an earlier interest in physics (because it held fewer research opportunities)[6] receiving his Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery at the University of Edinburgh (in '74 and '77). During this time he met and married (1976) his present wife, Caroline. His 1978–79 residency was in the Edinburgh Eastern General Hospital, the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and the Roodlands General Hospital in Haddington.

In 1980/81 the Frazers emigrated to Melbourne. Dr Frazer came to research viral immunology at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research,[7] which had impressed him as the dominant publisher of scientific papers on immunology.[5] In 1981, he discovered that immunodeficiency afflicting homosexuals in San Francisco was also found in the gay men in his hepatitis B study, and (in 1984) helped to confirm that HIV was a cause.[8] They also found that another sexually transmitted virus was having a surprising effect: human papilloma virus (HPV) infection seemed to be inducing precancerous cells.[9]

In 1985 he moved to the University of Queensland (UQ) (as a Senior Lecturer) for the opportunity to establish his own research laboratory: In the Lions Human Immunology Laboratories he continued to research HPV in men, and contributed to HIV research.[10] His other tasks were teaching, and running diagnostic tests for Princess Alexandra Hospital;[4] he received the Doctor of Medicine qualification in 1988.[11]

Breakthrough

On a 1989 sabbatical he met virologist Dr Jian Zhou, and the two considered the problem of developing a vaccine for HPV – a virus that cannot be cultured without living tissue.[12] Frazer convinced Zhou to join him, and in 1990 they began to use molecular biology to synthesize particles in vitro that could mimic the virus. In March 1991 Zhou's wife, Dr Xiao-Yi Sun,[8] combined two proteins into a virus-like particle (VLP),[13] resembling the HPV shell, from which HPV vaccine would ultimately be made.[5] (The vaccine completely protects unexposed women against four HPV strains responsible for 70% of cervical cancers,[14][15] which kill about 250,000 women annually.[16][17]) Frazer and Zhou filed a provisional patent in June 1991 and began work on developing the vaccine within UQ. To finance clinical trials, Australian medical company CSL and later Merck were sold partial patents.[18] (CSL has the exclusive license to sell Gardasil in New Zealand and Australia, Merck the license elsewhere.)[19] GlaxoSmithKline independently used the same VLP-approach to develop Cervarix, under a later US patent, licensing Frazer's intellectual property in 2005.[20]

Later in 1991 the research was presented at a US scientific meeting, and Frazer became Director of the Centre for Immunology and Cancer Research at the University of Queensland (which he remains- at the renamed Diamantina Institute for Cancer, Immunology and Metabolic Medicine). After three years in design, Gardasil went into testing, and Frazer became a Professor in the University's Department of Medicine. In 1998 Professor Frazer completed the first human trials for Gardasil, and became an Australian.[4][13]

Celebrity

In 1999 he received the Australian Biotechnology Award, and has since received more than twenty awards for science.[21] In 2006, results from the four-year Phase III trials led to Australian and US regulatory approval.[13] Frazer's studies showed 100% efficacious protective immunity in HPV naïve women, but could not directly test protective immunity (against HPV exposure) in adolescent girls. As a surrogate test, antibody titer levels in vaccinated 9- to 15-year-old girls was shown high enough to give them the same level of immunity as vaccinated women.[22] It has been suggested that one way to bring cheaper equivalent vaccines to market is to mandate a similar induced immune response.[23]

Professor Frazer administered the first official HPV-vaccination,[24] and was made 2006 Queenslander of the Year and Australian of the Year.[25][26]

In the 2007 resolution of his US patent lawsuit Professor Frazer's world-wide rights to the fundamental VLP science were established.[6][20] He won the 2007 Howard Florey Medal for Medical Research, the 2008 Prime Minister's Prize for Science,[3] the 2008 Balzan Prize for Preventive Medicine,[27] and the 2009 Australian Medical Association Gold Medal.[28] Other awards include the 2006 William B. Coley Award (with Harald zur Hausen),[7] the 2005 CSIRO Eureka Prize for Leadership in Science,[29] and the 2003 Centenary Medal for services to cancer research. [30]

After 2009 reports of adverse Gardasil reactions, Professor Frazer said "Apart from a very, very rare instance where you get an allergic reaction from the vaccine, which is about one in a million, there is nothing else that can be directly attributable to the vaccine."[31] Ian Frazer is one of the "most trusted" Australians, and some critics have accused Gardasil's advocates of exploiting patriotism[32] to promote its rapid Australian release.[33] (Australia's government had the world's most generous coverage for the drug, though it is the nation with the lowest cervical cancer mortality.)[19]

He lives in Brisbane, Australia. Two of his sons, Andrew and Callum, are medical students and the third, Jaimie, is a veterinary scientist.[21]

Current work

Research

Professor Frazer now holds a personal chair as head of the Diamantina Institute. He is researching immunoregulation and immunotherapeutic vaccines, supported by several US and Australian research funding bodies.[34] He is working on a VLP-based vaccine against hepatitis C, and is researching extensions to the VLP production technology for dengue fever and Japanese encephalitis vaccines. Professor Frazer expects (50% effective) HIV vaccines to be available by 2028.[35] He is already overseeing trials of the first vaccine for skin cancer (the Squamous cancer,[36] caused by HPV) which might be ready before 2020.[37]

Professor Frazer is the inaugural holder of the Queensland Government Smart State premier’s fellowship, worth $2.5 million over 5 years. He has held continuous research funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)] since 1985, mostly relating to papilloma viruses or tumor immunology. He is currently a joint Chief Investigator on an NHMRC program grant and a NHMRC/Wellcome program grant, together worth more than $2 million a year.

Teaching and industry

He teaches immunology to undergraduates and graduate students at the University of Queensland, is Cancer Council Australia president,[38] Chairman of the ACRF's Medical Research Advisory Committee, and advises the WHO and the Gates Foundation on papillomavirus vaccines.

Professor Frazer consults for many pharmaceutical companies on Immunomodulatory drugs, prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines. He sits on the board of three for-profit small biotech companies and a number of not for profit organisations. He is a director of a biotechnology start up company, Coridon,[39] with an interest in optimising and targeting polynucleotide vaccine protein expression.

Fellowships

References

  1. ^ "BIO of Professor Ian Frazer | Cancer Research :)". Australian Cancer Research Foundation. Retrieved 28 May 2010.
  2. ^ The Hepatitis B vaccine (HBV) protects against the development of malignant liver cancer and was the first vaccine capable of preventing the development of a specific human cancer. But, the Australia antigen was understood to be a potential vaccine seven years before the carcinogenic effect of Hepatitis B was discovered (see: Javier, R. T.; Butel, J. S. (1 October 2008). "The History of Tumor Virology". Cancer Research. AACR Centennial Series. 68 (7693): 7693–706. doi:10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-08-3301. PMID 18829521. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |unused_data= ignored (help)). HBV was designed to prevent the disease's other symptoms, whereas an HPV vaccine would have been low priority if HPV wasn't carcinogenic (for example medcompare.com says men are almost always clinically asymptomatic). These two viruses are the only two oncoviruses to yet have effective vaccines developed against them.
  3. ^ a b "Profile on Professor Ian Frazer – Diamantina Institute at The University of Queensland". www.di.uq.edu.au. Retrieved 29 May 2010. For his creation of the first vaccine designed to protect against a cancer, Ian Frazer receives the Prime Ministers Prize for Science. [dead link]
  4. ^ a b c d Thompson, Peter. "Talking Heads – Professor Ian Frazer". www.abc.net.au. Retrieved 29 May 2010.
  5. ^ a b c Belinda Gibbon (program producer). "Catalyst: Meeting Ian Frazer". ABC. Retrieved 29 May 2010.
  6. ^ a b c Williams, Robyn (2008). "Interviews with Australian scientists – Professor Ian Frazer". Australian Academy of Science.
  7. ^ a b "Ian Frazer". Ri Aus. Retrieved 29 May 2010. Eighty per cent of Australian secondary schoolgirls have been vaccinated with Gardasil
  8. ^ a b Whittaker, M. (4 March 2006). "God's Gift to Women". The Weekend Australian Magazine. 'Ian went to huge efforts and he got them visas to Australia,' recalls Stanley. 'It says a lot about Ian. If anything should come over in your article it's that Ian is an extremely kind man.'
  9. ^ Frazer, I. H.; Crapper, R. M.; Medley, G.; Brown, T. C.; Mackay, I. R. (20 September 1986). "Association between anorectal dysplasia, human papillomavirus, and human immunodeficiency virus infection in homosexual men". The Lancet. 328 (8508): 657–660. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(86)90168-6.
  10. ^ Frazer, I. H. (3 October 1988). "Influence of human immunodeficiency virus antibody testing on sexual behaviour in a "high-risk" population from a "low-risk" city". Lions Human Immunology Laboratories, University of Queensland, Department of Medicine, Princess Alexandra Hospital, Woolloongabba. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ "A hero of women and science". Diamantina Institute at The University of Queensland. Ian Frazer was set for a career in physics when a chance encounter with an immunologist, the father of his pen-friends girlfriend, changed his course.
  12. ^ "1". Human Papillomaviruses: Clinical and Scientific Advances. London: Hodder Arnold. 2001. ISBN 9780340742150. {{cite book}}: |editor-first= missing |editor-last= (help); |editor2-first= missing |editor2-last= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  13. ^ a b c Williams, L. (2006). "A Simple Idea". Readers' Digest. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  14. ^ Sawaya, G. F.; Smith-McCune, Karen (10 May 2007). "HPV Vaccination – More Answers, More Questions". The New England Journal of Medicine. 356 (19). Previous reports showed a remarkable 100% efficacy of a quadrivalent vaccine targeting HPV types 6, 11, 16, and 18 on outcomes related to vaccine HPV types in women with no evidence of previous exposure to those types [...] subgroups of subjects with no evidence of previous exposure to relevant vaccine HPV types were evaluated separately for vaccine efficacy. In these subgroups, efficacy of nearly 100% against all grades of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and adenocarcinoma in situ related to vaccine HPV types was reported [...] Why is vaccine efficacy modest in the entire cohort? One factor is the apparent lack of efficacy among subjects with evidence of previous exposure to HPV types included in the vaccine. The FUTURE II trial showed no effect of vaccination
  15. ^ Walker; J. (9 October 2005). "UQ Team Defeats Cervical Cancer". The Courier-Mail. Ian Frazer's break-through vaccine is 100 per cent effective against the most common form of the virus that causes cervical cancer, according to final-stage trial results [...] a delighted Professor Frazer, 52, said last night: 'It is very rare, almost unheard of, to achieve a 100 per cent efficacy rate in any treatment, so these results are truly wonderful.'
  16. ^ Estimates of the contemporary global mortality rate have remained in the 190,000 to 300,000 range from 2000 to 2010. The 2007 WHO progress report says that preventable cervical cancer "was responsible in 2005 for up to 500 000 new cases and up to 257 000 deaths, more than 90% in low- and middle-income countries", but, "According to WHO’s projections, deaths from cervical cancer will rise to 320 000 in 2015 and to 435 000 in 2030" (p.4). These projections may be little effected by vaccination programs (anyway unlikely on cost grounds) because "A reduction in cancer incidence and mortality might not be measurable before 10 to 30 years after the vaccine is introduced." (p.5). Other estimates of the problem's scale are broadly in agreement:
    • Kennedy, F. (25 January 2006). "UQ Australian of the Year Will Continue Fight for Women's Health". UQ News. Professor Frazer said Australia and other developed nations had effective Pap smear programs to reduce the incidence of cervical cancer. 'Despite this, cervical cancer continues to be a shocking disease for women in the developed world. Women living in poverty in the developing world, where Pap smears are not widely available, account for most of the 250,000 deaths from cervical cancer each year. So this vaccine has the potential to do most good in the developing world, where it could help lift women out of poverty by relieving the burden of disease
    • "Transcripts – Professor Ian Frazer". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 29 May 2010. Ian Frazer was made Australian of the Year in 2006. He and his team at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane have developed a vaccine to beat cervical cancers that kill 250,000 women a year worldwide.
    • "Cervical Cancer Statistics". CervicalCancer.org. 2 March 2007. Retrieved 29 May 2010. a woman dies of cervical cancer approximately every 2 minutes. In less developed countries, this type of cancer is the second most common in women and accounts for up to 300,000 annual deaths.
  17. ^ Kantrowitz, Barbara (15 March 2010). "Message in a Bottle The subtle ads for drug giant Glaxo's new cervical-cancer drugs have people talking". Newsweek. Retrieved 29 May 2010. Cervarix may also protect against other types that cause cervical cancer, but more research is needed to confirm this. [...GlaxoSmithKline's] estimate of the prevalence of cervical cancer in this country roughly matches the National Cancer Institute's statistics. But according to the World Health Organization, the disease is far more common in developing countries, which account for 80 percent of the annual cases worldwide and about 190,000 deaths a year (compared to about 4,000 deaths in this country).
  18. ^ Chen, Huanhuan; Wang, Danhong (22 October 2007). "An interview with Jian Zhou's wife, Dr. Xiaoyi Sun". Science Times.
  19. ^ a b Siers-Poisson, Judith (18 July 2007). "Profit Knows No Borders, Selling Gardasil to the Rest of the World". Center for Media and Democracy. The federal government will also cover young women who are not in school and are still under 27 years through their general practitioners and community immunization clinics. This age group will receive the vaccine free from July 2007, until the end of June 2009.
  20. ^ a b Beran, Ruth (21 June 2006). "Ian Frazer's patent problem". Australian Life Scientist. Jian Zhou died in 1999, but he was an equal partner
  21. ^ a b "Queensland scientist profiles > Ian Frazer". Queensland Government. 9 February 2010. Retrieved 29 May 2010. 'What is the most unusual or fun thing you've done in your job?' Being Australian of the Year and carrying the Commonwealth Games torch round Darling Harbour on a boat on Australia Day
  22. ^ Frazer, I. (2007). "Correlating immunity with protection for HPV infection" (PDF). International Journal of Infectious Diseases. 11. Elsevier. Retrieved 6 June 2010. with no breakthrough HPV infections due to waning immunity, the minimum protective anti-HPV antibody level could not be ascertained. Nevertheless, antibody titer has been used as a surrogate marker of protection in clinical trials, particularly in adolescent populations in whom efficacy studies are not feasible. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help) (The 100% efficacious immunity is against HPV 16- and 18-related cervical cancer indicators.)
  23. ^ Crager, S. E.; Guillen, E.; Price, M. (2009). "University Contributions to the HPV Vaccine and Implications for Access to Vaccines in Developing Countries" (PDF). American Journal of Law & Medicine. 35: 268. Evaluating the ability of a vaccine to induce a specific immune response is far less complex, less costly, and less time-consuming than performing clinical trials to assess the ability of the vaccine to confer protective immunity.
  24. ^ Pollard, Ruth (9 September 2006). "One small jab, but a giant leap for womankind". Sydney Morning Herald. It will mean a 70 per cent reduction in abnormal pap smears, and in parts of the world where there are no pap smears, a 70 per cent reduction in cervical cancer.
  25. ^ "Australian of the Year Awards – Australian of the Year 2006". www.australianoftheyear.org.au. Retrieved 28 May 2010. Ian embodies Australian know-how, determination and innovation
  26. ^ Lewis, Wendy (2010). Australians of the Year. Pier 9 Press. ISBN 9781741968095.
  27. ^ "International Balzan Prize Foundation: The Balzan Forum 2008 at the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei". www.balzan.org. Retrieved 29 May 2010.
  28. ^ "Ian Frazer wins AMA gold medal for work on cervical cancer vaccines". Australian Medical Association. 31 May 2009. Retrieved 29 May 2010. Through the development of vaccines Ian has helped protect the lives of countless women
  29. ^ "Cervical cancer vaccine research wins CSIRO Eureka Prize (Media Release)". www.csiro.com. 10 September 2005.
  30. ^ "Selected awards". www.di.uq.edu.au. Retrieved 29 May 2010. [dead link] Other awards include: 2008 Ramaciotti Medal, 2008 American Academy of Dermatology Lila Gruber Award for Dermatology, 2007 Novartis Prize for Clinical Immunology, Rio de Janeiro, 2007 Golden Plate recipient, International Achievement Summit, 2007 International Life Award for Scientific Research, 2007 Merck Sharp & Dohme Howard Florey Medal, 2007 Clunies Ross Award, Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, 2006 Distinguished Fellowship Award, Royal College of Pathologists, 2006 Queenslander of the Year, 2005 John Curtin Medal, 1999 Business/Higher Education Round Table award for Collaborative Research
  31. ^ Crawford, C.; Elsworth, S. (20 September 2009). "Ian Frazer defends cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil". The Courier-Mail. Brisbane: Queensland Newspapers. Retrieved 29 May 2010. For 23 million doses that have been given out, we received 12,424 reports of adverse events," Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study author Barbara Slade said [...] Of the adverse reports in the US, 772 cases were considered serious
  32. ^ Klein, Renate (21 September 2008). "The Gardasil 'miracle' coming undone?". Australia's e-journal of social and political debate. p. 2. Retrieved 29 May 2010. Frazer: "God's Gift to Women" proclaimed the cover of The Weekend Australian's magazine [...] In Australia, critics are almost perceived as national traitors
  33. ^ Klein, Renate. "The Gardasil 'miracle' coming undone?". p. 1. It was only on February 23–24, 2008 that the Victorian Cytology Service ran a job advertisement for a 'newly created position' to 'help establish and operate the new National HPV Vaccination Program' (The Australian, 23–24 February 2008). That's 11 months after thousands of school girls had already received the jab.
  34. ^ "Cancer Control in the 21st Century". James Cook University. 25 May 2010. Retrieved 29 May 2010. [dead link]
  35. ^ Leng, Lay (2008). Candace, Lim (ed.). "FEATURE: Vaccinating against Cancer". INNOVATION. 7 (3). Singapore: World Scientific Publishing & The NUS. According to Frazer, the opportunity for vaccine improvement comes from novel adjuvants [...] and recombinant DNA {{cite journal}}: External link in |issue= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  36. ^ Kelly, James (30 March 2010). "Stateline Queensland – Vaccine doctor's good news". ABC News. ABC. Retrieved 29 May 2010. It's not exactly the same virus and therefore the vaccine we already have will not protect against that particular cancer. But the technology that we've used to develop a vaccine for cervical cancer should in principle be possible to use for prevention of some skin cancers.
  37. ^ "Scientist Ian Frazer close to creating skin cancer vaccine". Brisbane Times. 16 November 2008. Retrieved 29 May 2010. If we can get encouraging results we will try and push it on as fast as we can It's really a given that we try to focus on health problems that are significant ones. {{cite web}}: External link in |quote= (help)
  38. ^ "Professor Ian Frazer wins Prime Minister's Prize for Science". Cancer Council Australia. 17 October 2008. Retrieved 28 May 2010. Sometimes it seems almost impossible to believe that something we did all those years ago could have such a dramatic impact on so many people
  39. ^ a b "Ian Frazer honoured by major Fellowship". www.coridon.com. 6 June 2004. Retrieved 29 May 2010. I saw becoming a fellow of the AAS as recognition received towards the end of a career, whereas I see myself working in research for a lot longer yet

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