
News|Articles|March 3, 2025
Top FDA Approvals and Updates from February 2025 in Infectious Disease
Author(s)Contagion Editorial Team
Approved vaccines for chikungunya, meningococcal disease, updates on HIV prevention, key regulatory decisions, and more.
Advertisement
Advertisement
The FDA has approved Bavarian Nordic’s Vimkunya vaccine, the first virus-like particle (VLP) single-dose vaccine for chikungunya, for individuals aged 12 and older. Approval was based on positive phase 3 trial results, where up to 97.8% of participants developed neutralizing antibodies within 21 days. The vaccine, expected to launch in the US by mid-2025 and in Europe after final approval, offers protection against the mosquito-borne illness, which can cause severe joint pain. Vimkunya is the second chikungunya vaccine approved in the US and provides a broader coverage option for younger and older adults.1
Related to this article

Alejandra Gurtman, MD, discussed the phase 2 data at IDWeek 2026 which showed the investigational 25-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine 25vPnC produced serotype 3 antibody levels about 15-fold higher than Prevnar 20 after the booster dose, targeting a serotype still behind 10.6% of invasive pneumococcal disease in US children younger than five years.

A 39-year-old unvaccinated Franklin County woman has died after a recent measles diagnosis. Nationally, numbers continue to increase and the US has passed 4,000 cases.

The National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID) recently held its respiratory season kick-off, which included the release of its annual respiratory disease survey. This year, the survey revealed the gap between vaccine support and uptake. Robert Hopkins Jr, MD, medical director of NFID delves deeper into the findings of the survey and the vaccine uptake challenges associated with certain immunizations.

Investigational agent Zelicapavir cut time to complete RSV symptom resolution by up to a week and lowered hospitalization in high-risk adults.

The latest CDC numbers show a 4.0% increase in measles cases from week-to-week, bringing the 2026 US total to 4588 confirmed cases. Ninety-six percent of cases are outbreak-associated.

In the phase 3b ENCORE trial, adding amikacin liposome inhalation suspension (ALIS) to azithromycin and ethambutol significantly improved culture conversion in newly diagnosed MAC lung disease, while treatment-emergent amikacin (2.2%) and macrolide (1.1%) resistance stayed rare. Kevin Winthrop, MD, provides insights around the study.

Oral zelicapavir cut time to complete RSV symptom resolution by up to 1 week in high-risk adults, but it did not meet its primary end point in a phase 2 trial.
Advertisement
Advertisement

