FDA

Congressional letters sent to the CEOs of Eli Lilly, Pfizer, Merck, BMS and AbbVie this week voicing concerns about the pharmas’ clinical trials in China highlight an ongoing discrepancy in how government and industry think about the rise of the Asian country’s biotech industry.
FDA
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A recent FDA reversal sparked new hope for patients with Huntington’s disease. Flying under the radar, Skyhawk Therapeutics revealed 12-month functional data from a midstage trial of its own candidate showing improvements on a key disease measurement scale.
The FDA plans to hold an advisory committee meeting to discuss Capricor Therapeutics’ application for deramiocel, which the agency rejected last July. The news surprised CEO Linda Marbán, who told BioSpace the FDA has not communicated any issues of concern with the company’s resubmitted application.
When the variance can’t be modeled, even disciplined biotech investors stop deploying. Here’s the cheapest fix for biotech’s investability problem.
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Industry watchers responded mostly positively to the commissioner’s new voucher program, but worries remain over staffing cuts at the agency.
Speaking at BIO2025, Makary bemoaned what he called “unnecessary steps” and “avoidable delays” in the U.S. regulatory landscape.
FDA
The program will bring together experts from across the FDA for a team-based review, rather than having an application move across numerous offices within the agency before getting a yay or nay.
According to an internal email, the agency may be in for more consolidation in areas including human resources, communications, travel and acquisitions.
RSV
Later this month, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s revamped CDC vaccine advisory committee will discuss RSV vaccination guidelines for the newly approved patient group, high-risk adults 18 through 49. Analysts and other experts have warned that the new panel includes some who have documented anti-vaccine sentiments as well as those who have spoken out against mRNA technology specifically.
Martin Kulldorff and Robert Malone, both outspoken vaccine skeptics, have received compensation for their expert participation in various vaccine-related cases against Merck.
The FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee narrowly voted against the approval of Zusduri, citing the lack of a completely randomized study to back up the application.
Nuvation Bio’s first approved product is Ibtrozi, a CNS-active ROS1 inhibitor that in pivotal studies showed high rates of treatment response in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.
FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and CBER Director Vinay Prasad published an article in JAMA on Tuesday outlining the FDA’s priorities, including accelerating cures and the rapid deployment of artificial intelligence.
Gene therapies have ridden investor mania to huge valuations but commercialization challenges have pushed market caps to the floor. At a roundtable last week, FDA leaders promised faster approvals and broad support to the industry.