News

FDA
FDA Commissioner Marty Makary intends to resign on Tuesday, according to several sources. This report follows a tumultuous 13-month tenure in which Makary oversaw the controversial rejections of several rare disease drugs and “predictable volatility” within the agency.
FEATURED STORIES
New guidelines from two leading medical associations suggest that efforts to reduce bad cholesterol should focus on maintaining low levels of two key lipoproteins. Big pharma is all in, looking to improve on the standard statins to help vanquish America’s number one killer: heart disease.
The FDA’s decision last year to make complete response letters public provides new insight into why therapies sometimes fail to get the regulatory greenlight. Analysts say the information could help sponsors refine their regulatory strategies.
The Department of Health and Human Services is spinning its wheels, unable to establish steady leadership at three major divisions—the CDC and the FDA’s two primary review units.
FROM OUR EDITORS
Read our takes on the biggest stories happening in the industry.
FDA
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s health department has consistently touted radical transparency as being key to its mission. Recent instances—the FDA’s decision not to disclose the recipients of three Commissioner’s National Priority Vouchers and FDA and CDC choices not to publish vaccine-related papers—call this intent into question.
THE LATEST
Following a U.S. appeals court decision, the company said it is preparing to divest GRAIL through a third-party sale or capital markets transaction.
The biotech reported topline data from a mid-stage study of MM-120, its LSD-based drug, in patients with generalized anxiety disorder.
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.