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Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic are pushing for the withdrawal of the rare disease treatment that accounted for just 1% of Amgen’s 2025 revenue. Nevertheless, Amgen continues to defend the medicine, which was acquired in the $3.7 billion buyout of ChemoCentryx.
Psychedelics are gaining momentum in depression, with one treating physician predicting that the drug class could “wipe out the SSRIs” if safety and durability hold up.
Saol Therapeutics is the latest biotech to resubmit for approval of a drug rejected under former FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, following REGENXBIO and Replimune.
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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 European Medicine Agency panel on Friday reaffirmed its decision not to renew the conditional marketing authorization for GSK’s multiple myeloma drug Blenrep.
President Joe Biden has long promised to stand up to Big Pharma, lower prescription drug prices and limit the power of drugmakers—a pledge he seems intent on keeping.
FDA
Merck’s HIF-2α inhibitor Welireg has been approved by the FDA to treat advanced renal cell carcinoma after treatment with PD-1 or PD-L1 and VEGF-TKI-based therapies.
Despite pricing concerns for bluebird bio’s FDA-approved sickle cell disease gene therapy, the biotech has inked a deal with an unnamed commercial payer “representing approximately 100 million covered lives” in the U.S.
A week after securing FDA approval, a European Medicines Agency committee has endorsed Vertex and CRISPR Therapeutics’ Casgevy for sickle cell disease and transfusion‑dependent beta thalassemia.
Amid falling COVID-19 revenues, Pfizer continues to invest in antibody-drug conjugates in a deal with Nona Biosciences worth $1 billion as its $43 billion Seagen buy closed on Thursday.
The regulator placed the clinical hold on the Chinese biotech’s trio of CAR-T cell therapy candidates after an inspection of its Durham, North Carolina manufacturing facility.
FDA
Despite the lack of a randomized clinical trial to support eflornithine’s efficacy, the regulator approved US WorldMeds’ oral maintenance treatment for high-risk neuroblastoma in adults and children.
At the urging of the Biden administration, Sanofi and AstraZeneca are pledging 230,000 additional doses of their respiratory syncytial virus infant immunization Beyfortus in January 2024.
The combination of Keytruda and an mRNA vaccine reduced the risk of death or relapse in patients with the most deadly form of skin cancer after three years in a Phase IIb study.