Eurofarma announces partnership to bring new chikungunya vaccine to Brazil

The company already submitted the registration request to Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) in June, beginning the approval process for the immunizer called CHIKV VLP.

It is a single-dose vaccine, produced using VLP technology ("virus like particles", or particles similar to the virus). The method reproduces the external structure of the pathogen without containing its genetic material, which prevents replication and infection.

In clinical studies, the vaccine induced neutralizing antibodies in different age groups, including adolescents and the elderly, according to Eurofarma.

It is already approved from the age of 12 in the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Canada, under the trade name Vimkunya.

If approved in Brazil, the product will be the second vaccine against chikungunya authorized in the country. The first, developed by the Butantan Institute in partnership with the French-Austrian pharmaceutical company Valneva, had registration granted by Anvisa in April 2025 and began to have national production authorized in May this year.

The Butantan vaccine uses an attenuated virus and is recommended for people between 18 and 59 years old, and is contraindicated for pregnant women and immunosuppressed people. Eurofarma's technology, as it does not contain replicating genetic material, allows application to a wider age range.

According to the WHO (World Health Organization), the world recorded more than 500,000 cases of chikungunya in 2025, with around 186 deaths. In Brazil, there were almost 130 thousand cases and 120 deaths in the same period.

An epidemiological alert published by Opas (Pan American Health Organization) and the WHO in February this year points to a sustained increase in cases between the end of 2025 and the beginning of 2026, including the resumption of transmission in regions that had not recorded the virus for years, such as parts of the central-west and southeast regions of Brazil.

The disease has already been identified in more than 110 countries and tends to spread with global warming, which favors the proliferation of the mosquito that transmits it. Although the lethality is low, chikungunya can progress to chronic disabling joint pain.

Covid-19 vaccines will be updated to keep up with new variants

Anvisa ordered that vaccines against Covid-19 be updated to keep up with the variants circulating in Brazil. New formulas must be monovalent and prioritize the LP.8.1 lineage, with a transition period of up to nine months