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If cell and gene therapy makers are going to achieve their mission to improve patients’ lives, the industry must come together to share information across stakeholders, from regulators to manufacturers to payers.
While drugmakers and other stakeholders want to see faster approvals, experts say the FDA’s Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher program is still bereft of important details, with candidate selection and interference from the agency’s senior leaders topping the list.
FDA
UniQure’s planned third-quarter submission for its Huntington’s disease gene therapy may be a harbinger of a more flexible FDA under acting commissioner Kyle Diamantas—but how long will it last? And how can companies be sure these positive decisions won’t just be reversed?
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FDA veteran Peter Marks will now shape the future of Eli Lilly’s vaccines work after the buys of Curevo, LimmaTech Biologics and Vaccine Company for up to $3.8 billion total.
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Starboard Value contends that Kenvue, with strong consumer health brands like Tylenol and Listerine, is underperforming its rivals, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Nucleus RadioPharma’s two sites are meant to help address the industry’s lack of manufacturing and development capabilities, as well as geographic limitations associated with the short half-life of many radioactive components.
Seaport Therapeutics, kick started by the former leaders of Karuna Therapeutics, has raised $225 million in an oversubscribed Series B to fund a pipeline of neuropsychiatric medicines.
Novo Nordisk on Monday reported the oral version of its drug semaglutide reduced the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events in adults with type 2 diabetes by 14% in a large Phase III trial.
Sanofi will sell a 50% controlling stake in consumer healthcare unit Opella to private equity firm CD&R, with the French government taking a stake as well to ensure the business remains in the county.
FDA
In a short statement Friday, Lykos Therapeutics expressed optimism about a recent meeting with the regulator to discuss next steps for the embattled program, following the FDA’s rejection in August 2024.
BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan Seigerman in a note to investors said the late-stage data for Vertex’s experimental non-opioid pain medication “reaffirms our confidence in the strength of suzetrigine’s profile.” However, William Blair analysts view these data as “an incremental positive” as the company faces challenges in targeting the acute pain market.
With Friday’s ruling by New Jersey District Judge Zahid Quraishi, Novartis joins a growing list of pharmaceutical companies that have failed in their legal challenges to the Inflation Reduction Act.
The regulator’s approval on Friday of Vyloy for gastric or gastroesophageal junction cancer makes it the first and only claudin 18.2–targeted therapy approved in the U.S. for these indications, according to Astellas.