FDA approves meningococcal disease vaccine

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a vaccine to prevent serogroup B meningococcal disease, the second vaccine approved by the FDA in the last three months to prevent the disease.

The most recently approved vaccine is Bexsero, made by Cambridge, Mass.-based Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics. The other vaccine, Trumenba, made by Pfizer, received approval in October 2014.

Before the approval of the two vaccines, existing approved meningococcal vaccines in the U.S. only covered four of the five main serogroups of the bacteria causing meningococcal disease, not serogroup B, according to the FDA. The director of the FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research called the approvals "a major public health accomplishment toward preventing life-threatening disease."

Meningococcal disease can be treated with antibiotics, but death or long-term complications are possible even with such treatment. Vaccines are the most effective way to prevent this illness.

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