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.
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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.
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Biopharma executives shared their thoughts on the potential impacts of the new administration; Annalee Armstrong recaps JPM and her talks with Biogen, Gilead, Novavax and more; Wegovy’s higher dose induces more weight loss; AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo’s Dato-DXd scores its first FDA approval.
Datroway, formerly known as Dato-DXd, significantly improved median progression-free survival in a Phase III study but failed to do so for overall survival.
The conversion of Calquence’s accelerated approval in mantle cell lymphoma comes a day before the drug was listed among the 15 products to be subject to IRA-prescripted price negotiations for Medicare this year.
The Phase III CodeBreaK 300 study returned disappointing overall survival data for Lumakras plus Vectibix in metastatic colorectal cancer, but in its approval announcement, the FDA pointed to significant improvements in progression-free survival, calling it the “major efficacy outcome” of the trial.
Atara Therapeutics’ Ebvallo, already marketed in Europe for a transplant-related blood cancer, will not hit the U.S. market just yet, forcing the company to “significantly reduce expenses.”
After a series of strongly worded letters—one of which was addressed directly to Commissioner Robert Califf—the FDA has publicly laid out its reasoning for rejecting Vanda Pharmaceuticals’ gastroparesis drug candidate tradipitant.
Omvoh’s label expansion is important progress for Eli Lilly as it works to diversify its portfolio beyond obesity, according to analysts from BMO Capital Markets.
An OIG report zeroed in on what it said were three particularly problematic accelerated approvals: Biogen’s Aduhelm, Sarepta’s Exondys and Covis’ Makena.
The FDA accepted Biogen and Eisai’s BLA for a subcutaneous administration of the anti-amyloid antibody Monday as the partners await the regulator’s decision on a new intravenous regimen following an underwhelming launch riddled with coverage and accessibility barriers.
Among the 55 novel drugs that crossed the regulatory finish line last year were notable new mechanisms of action, coming particularly in the oncology and neurosciences spaces.