Little Progress Seen in Treating Herpes

There aren't a lot of treatment options for genital herpes, yet it remains one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases in the U.S.

New government figures show that one in six Americans between 14 and 49 has herpes. Almost half of black women in that age group have the virus. It's a serious public health problem as the proportion of infected people remains high, and officials are calling for more help from companies.

The British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline Plc is conducting studies with the government for an experimental vaccine to help prevent transmission. Glaxo is the only big pharmaceutical maker to really make a market out of the disease. The company's Valtrex, used to treat herpes outbreaks, had about $1.9 billion in sales last year, an 8 percent decline from the previous year. The reason for the drop was the introduction of generic competitors in November. In 2008, Valtrex sales surged 16 percent.

Other companies, including Germany's Bayer AG, study herpes but, so far, there's no cure for the virus.

More than 80 percent of people who have the virus don't know they have it, the government estimates. For some, lifelong outbreaks can be painful. But even more significant from a public health standpoint, people with herpes are at far greater risk of contracting HIV.