FDA
With CBER director Vinay Prasad set to depart the agency at the end of the month, a coalition of patient groups and biotech executives penned a letter imploring the Trump administration to “restore regulatory clarity” for rare disease therapies. Experts on a BioSpace panel last week also acknowledged the challenges faced by a more stringent FDA.
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Draft guidance, issued by the FDA last week, could remove ambiguity and uncertainty that may have so far limited uptake of new approach methodologies, experts told BioSpace, particularly emphasizing the agency’s recommendations around defining NAMs’ regulatory purpose.
The FDA’s Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher program, unveiled in June 2025, is “shrouded in secrecy,” Democratic representative Jake Auchincloss said last month, as regulatory and biopharma leaders try to decode the criteria for investigational or approved drugs to receive a voucher.
Although FDA Commissioner Marty Makary promised “an exciting treatment” for autism, what the agency delivered was a label expansion for leucovorin to treat the ultrarare cerebral folate deficiency. The regulatory process, which relied on a literature review rather than new evidence, stands in contrast to recent rare disease rejections in which the FDA cited a need for more rigorous evidence.
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Last week, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research Director Vinay Prasad claimed in an internal memo—without providing evidence—that COVID-19 vaccines were responsible for the deaths of 10 children between 2021 and 2024.
Høeg is the fifth person to lead the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research this year.
In this episode of Denatured, Jennifer C. Smith-Parker speaks to Stacey Adam, PhD, Vice President of Science Partnerships at the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health and Patrick Smith, Senior Vice President, Translational Science at Certara, to discuss the latest regulatory news and the future for new approach methologies (NAMs) development.
Nearly 90% of senior leaders who were at the FDA a year ago are no longer with the agency, a BioSpace analysis shows. None remain from the Office of the Commissioner.
For certain monospecific antibodies, three-month toxicology studies plus other supportive evidence will suffice, eliminating the need for six-month testing.
Newly appointed Center for Drug Evaluation and Research director Richard Pazdur has filed retirement papers with the agency—three weeks after accepting the role—amid clashes with Commissioner Marty Makary over certain FDA programs.
With no evidence to support the claim that 10 children died due to COVID-19 vaccines, experts unpack the impact of CBER chief Vinay Prasad’s leaked vaccine memo.
Agentic AI can help FDA staff manage meetings, conduct pre-market reviews and validate reports, among other tasks, though the agency emphasized that using this technology is optional for its employees.
The alleged deaths were detected by the FDA’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, reports from which “generally cannot be used to determine” causation or even contribution, according to the agency.
If approved, Ascendis’ TransCon CNP would become the second therapy for achondroplasia, challenging BioMarin’s Voxzogo.