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While a substantial portion of pipeline assets are externally sourced, many Big Pharmas are tapping into incubators and venture funds to uncover cutting-edge scientific trends, determine their future focus points and even carve out a niche in an emerging geographical hotspot.
From innovation in manufacturing to more-flexible regulation and better communication with payers, much needs to happen to make CGTs commercially viable. But it is possible, experts agreed at a recent panel.
The primary focus in scaling up production should first be the adoption of lean manufacturing principles used in virtually every other industry.
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Unpredictable communication and a lack of transparency are eroding the industry’s and the public’s trust. The FDA, experts agree, needs to take control of the narrative.
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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.
AstraZeneca in January also stopped its $610 million plans to construct a vaccine R&D and manufacturing site in the U.K.
After decades without much movement, a handful of new treatments for this rare autoimmune disease are now approved, and several companies, including argenx and Regeneron, have recently released promising late-stage trial results.
While Eli Lilly’s orforglipron is top of mind heading into the European Association for the Study of Diabetes meeting this week, experts told BioSpace the conference will also provide important insights into the therapeutic benefits of incretin therapies beyond weight loss.
FDA
On the FDA’s docket for the back half of September is Merck’s proposed subcutaneous formulation of its blockbuster cancer drug Keytruda.
The settlement agreement will extend market exclusivity for AbbVie’s JAK inhibitor in the U.S. until 2037—providing pediatric exclusivity is granted.
Ocaliva won accelerated approval for primary biliary cholangitis in 2016, which the FDA refused to upgrade to full approval last year after an advisory committee was unable to verify a favorable risk/benefit profile.
President Donald Trump is considering tariff exemptions for certain “non-patented” pharmaceuticals, though the White House has yet to release specific guidelines.
IPO
LB Pharma landed on the Nasdaq Thursday, with 3 million additional shares sold than expected.
A draft executive order obtained by The New York Times purports to clamp down on the pharmaceutical industry’s ability to buy new molecules from biotechs based in China, along with a number of other proposed reforms.