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.
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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The program has recently become controversial as a number of high-profile advanced approvals were granted only for the drugs to fail a confirmatory trial later on. Now, the FDA has clearly laid out expectations.
The agency’s warning letter outlines Applied Therapeutics’ failure to provide adequate information regarding the clinical trial—including a dosing error for govorestat—claims that the company said it had already addressed.
Novartis, Gilead, Roche and Takeda commit to new partners in a spate of mid-sized collaborations this week. Meanwhile, Applied Therapeutics’ stock tanks 80% after govorestat is denied approval, Intra-Cellular Therapies seeks to expand Caplyta into major depressive disorder and the FDA investigates the safety of bluebird bio’s Skysona.
The cancers were diagnosed 19 to 92 months after Skysona treatment.
After extending its review period to evaluate additional submissions, the FDA ultimately denied Applied Therapeutics’ govorestat for galactosemia, citing “deficiencies” with the application. The biotech plans to meet with the regulator to discuss the best way forward for the drug.
Despite hotly debated biomarkers and failed or delayed confirmatory trials, the accelerated approval program has a track record of propelling R&D for some of medicine’s most challenging illnesses.
Currently, Eli Lilly’s GLP-1 drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound (tirzepatide) are not on the FDA’s shortage list but compounded pharmacies are still making them. That’s unprecedented.
With two decisions originally scheduled for this week already announced, including BridgeBio’s approval in ATTR-CM, the regulator has just one PDUFA on its plate this holiday week.
RFK Jr. as HHS head is perhaps President-elect Donald Trump’s most controversial Cabinet pick now that Matt Gaetz has withdrawn as nominee for Attorney General. With Dr. Oz tapped to lead CMS and maybe Marty Makary at the FDA, it’s going to be quite the show.
The pharma is seeking full approval for its anticoagulation reversal drug Andexxa, which the FDA granted accelerated approval in 2018 for patients who had been treated with apixaban or rivaroxaban.