New Meningitis Vaccine Gets Preliminary Go Ahead

U.S. regulators give the green light to a meningitis B vaccine produced by Swiss drugmaker, Novartis.  The company’s vaccine, Bexsero, has been given “breakthrough therapy” status.  That designation is intended to “expedite the development and review of drugs for serious or life-threatening conditions,” according to the FDA. The next step will be to get full U.S. approval, which Novartis hopes to accomplish as early as the second quarter of this year.

International Approval

The vaccine already has approval in Europe, Canada, and Australia – and has already been administered at several American universities to stop outbreaks of meningitis across campuses.