The vaccine Gardasil (Merck), for girls and women 11 to 26, prevent infection from four strains of human papillomavirus (HPV) , the main cause of cervical cancer.

Anyone who's had chickenpox is susceptible to the painful disease shingles. The Zostavax vaccine (Merck) is recommwended for people over the age of 60, who are at greater risk.

The vaccine we get as babaies wears off after about 7 years, so we now have Sanofi's Pasteur's Adacel ( for ages 11 to 64 ) and GlaxoSmithKline's Boostrix (for those ages 10 to 18).

Zolinza (Merck), a new medicine for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, is also being studied for other types of cancer.

Januvia (Merck), a once-daily pill for type 2 diabetes, is the first of a new class of medicines thant enhance the body's ability t control blood sugar. With Exubera (Pfizer), a fast acting needle free insulin, diabetics simply puff on the asthma-type inhaler before eating to deliver insulin quickly, regulating blood sugar.

One pill, three impressive jobs: the beta blocker Coreg CR (GlaxoSmithKline) reduces blood pressure and treats heart failure as well as post heart attack.

In trials, 44% of smokers who took prescription Chantix (Pfizer) for three months kicked the habit, versus 30% who used other drugs and 18% on a placebo.