Gardasil® is the cervical cancer vaccine based on the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) research of Professor Ian Frazer and the late Dr Jian Zhou at The University of Queensland, which was developed and marketed by CSL Limited and Merck & Co.

In the 1980s, the research team began working on a basis for the vaccine, developing recombinant virus-like particles to train the body to fight HPV, which was known for its links to cervical cancer. When this research proved successful, UniQuest patented the vaccine technology in 1991.

Industry funding from CSL in 1991 established a research and development collaboration with options for CSL to license the HPV technology. CSL subsequently licensed the technology from UniQuest, and then sub-licensed it to Merck, retaining the rights to market the technology in Australia and New Zealand. CSL also entered into a cross-licensing and settlement agreement with GlaxoSmithKline in 2005.

Although licensed to CSL in 1995, it took more than 10 years of further development before the vaccine could be released commercially. Merck funded the successful Phase II and Phase III clinical trials. In 2006 that Federal Drug Administration approval in the United States was secured. In that same year Merck launched Gardasil® onto the global market, and now more than 65 million doses have been distributed worldwide.

Gardasil has been approved in 121 countries. The University of Queensland waived royalties on sales to 72 developing countries least able to afford vaccines. Gardasil has also been approved in Australia for use in males aged 9-26 for the prevention of external genital lesions and infection caused by three HPV types.

Total sales of Gardasil by Merck peaked at USⁱ$1.5 billion for the year ending December 2007.