FDA
Vinay Prasad, the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research head, is accused of interpersonal impropriety as pushback builds against his decision to reject Moderna’s influenza vaccine candidate.
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The Senate failed to pass a massive spending bill on Thursday—which includes the rare pediatric PRV program but also funding for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s large-scale crackdown in Minnesota and other states.
Some 200 rare disease therapies are at risk of losing eligibility for a pediatric priority review voucher, a recent analysis by the Rare Disease Company Coalition shows. That could mean $4 billion in missed revenue for already cash-strapped biotechs.
Together with robust data-driven modeling, rethinking regulation and data use could push forward a notoriously challenging field.
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CDER Director George Tidmarsh said on two separate events last week that he thought advisory committee meetings for specific drug applications were redundant, but then denied having said the agency would abandon them.
On the FDA’s docket for the back half of September is Merck’s proposed subcutaneous formulation of its blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda.
After receiving a complete response letter for its pyruvate dehydrogenase complex deficiency candidate, Saol Therapeutics anticipates it will need “several years” and “significant financial resources” to address the FDA’s concerns.
While a win for consumers, the regulatory action did nothing to stem the manufacture of compounded versions of the popular obesity drugs that are made by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly. In fact, the FDA seems to be signaling that “some level of compounded product is acceptable,” according to BMO Capital Markets.
New FDA expert panels, such as recent meetings on SSRI use during pregnancy and on hormone replacement therapy during menopause, are drawing criticism for being one-sided. One leader says such panels are designed to reach a specific conclusion.
Amid an unprecedented turnover in leadership at the FDA and mass layoffs of staff, communication has crumbled and uncertainty runs rampant, leaving small and medium biopharma companies without a clear path forward for their therapies.
Perhaps the most interesting of the pile of FDA rejection letters was for Lykos Therapeutics’ MDMA therapy. Letters sent to Stealth BioTherapeutics, Regeneron and more were also released as the agency also promised future CRLs “promptly after they are issued to sponsors.”
While the new framework signals continued flexibility at the FDA regarding rare disease approvals, some analysts and advocates question what tangible impacts the new guidelines will have.
In a series of memos last week, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research Director Vinay Prasad outlined the FDA’s thinking on the recent limited approvals for updated COVID-19 vaccines.