A common adverse reaction of the papillomavirus vaccine that can be confused with an acute porphyric attack is nausea. This side effect may potentially be porphyrinogenic if leading to a decrease in carbohydrate intake.

The active substance in the papillomavirus vaccine is a protein and with regards to its pharmacokinetics it has no possible porphyrinogenic effects.

Protein in the form of virus-like particles produced by recombinant technology and does not contain genetic material from the viruses (Lowy 2006).

Papillomavirus (human types 6, 11, 16, 18)-vaccine is a vaccine for use from the age of 9 years for the prevention of premalignant genital lesions (cervical, vulvar and vaginal), premalignant anal lesions, cervical cancers and anal cancers causally related to certain oncogenic Human Papillomavirus (HPV) types, and for the prevention of genital warts (condyloma acuminata) causally related to specific HPV types. It is administered by intramuscular injection, according to a 2 or 3 dose schedule over a period of 6 months. The vaccine is an adjuvanted non-infectious recombinant quadrivalent vaccine prepared from the highly purified virus-like particles (VLPs) of the major capsid L1 protein of HPV types 6, 11, 16 and 18. The VLPs contain no viral DNA, they cannot infect cells, reproduce or cause disease.

The papillomavirus vaccine is not metabolized by the Cytochrome P450 system.