With Measles Roaring Back, the Search for a Drug Is On

Why It Matters

The resurgence creates a new commercial opportunity for biotech firms and underscores the public health risk of declining vaccine coverage, potentially reshaping investment priorities in infectious‑disease therapeutics.

Summary

Measles cases surged in 2025, marking the worst U.S. outbreak since 1991 as vaccination rates fell, prompting a sudden wave of biotech interest in therapeutic development. Two U.S. biotech firms have launched antibody trials and another has begun animal testing of an antiviral, while academic labs, including Dr. Dawid Zyla’s, report early promising data. Although no treatments are yet approved and commercial products are years away, the renewed disease burden is creating a potential market that was previously nonexistent.