FDA
The FDA issued a rare Refusal-to-File letter to Moderna over its mRNA-based influenza vaccine application, in an unusual move that sent the biotech’s shares tumbling.
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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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The label for the achondroplasia drug, which promotes endochondral bone growth, now covers children under five years of age with the rare genetic disease causing the most common form of dwarfism.
While Merck lost out to Pfizer earlier this year in snapping up Seagen, this week the company closed a deal worth a potential $22 billion with Daiichi Sankyo—further evidence of the industry’s insatiable appetite for ADC technology.
Following a delay and an initial rejection, UCB’s IL-17A/IL-17F blocker bimekizumab was approved for moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis, which will now be marketed with the brand name Bimzelx.
The complement inhibitor won the FDA’s approval for the treatment of generalized myasthenia gravis, a rare autoimmune disease. The therapy will be sold under the brand name Zilbrysq.
The company’s resubmission succeeded in getting the greenlight for tenapanor, now to be marketed as Xphozah, to lower serum phosphorus levels in chronic kidney disease patients.
The blockbuster PD-1 inhibitor’s label expanded further on Monday when the FDA greenlit Keytruda as a perioperative treatment for certain patients with earlier stages of non-small cell lung cancer.
The regulator approved the combination of Pfizer’s Braftovi and Mektovi for the treatment of metastatic non-small cell lung cancer in adult patients with a BRAF V600E mutation.
The regulator’s approval of oral, once-daily etrasimod, to be marketed as Velsipity, was based on favorable Phase III safety and efficacy data showing significant clinical remission of ulcerative colitis.
The Swiss pharma continues its winning streak with the FDA’s approval of the intravenous formulation of Cosentyx for ankylosing spondylitis, axial spondyloarthritis and psoriatic arthritis.
Recent FDA approvals of novel drugs based on less-than-stellar clinical evidence point to a trend toward regulatory flexibility—particularly in indications with very high unmet need.