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The disagreement between Moderna and the FDA has reached a resolution just eight days after the biotech received a Refusal-to-File letter in response to its application for mRNA-1010. Moderna will now seek approval of the vaccine based on age.
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The FDA’s refusal to review Moderna’s mRNA-based flu vaccine is part of a larger communications crisis unfolding at the agency over the past nine months that has also ensnarled Sarepta, Capricor, uniQure and many more.
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Analysts agree that the failure of Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide to reduce Alzheimer’s disease progression removes a “modest” or “perceived” overhang on Biogen and the anti-amyloid antibody class in general, clearing the way for increased uptake of Leqembi and Eli Lilly’s Kisunla.
“We felt we had a responsibility to explore semaglutide’s potential, despite a low likelihood of success,” Martin Holst Lange, Novo’s R&D chief, said on Monday.
NervGen will meet with the FDA early next year to align on a regulatory path forward for NVG-291 in chronic spinal cord injury.
Asundexian’s Phase III win could also bode well for Bristol Myers Squibb, which is also developing a Factor XIa inhibitor called milvexian for stroke prevention, analysts said.
A source familiar with the matter said the White House initially requested the resignation of Sanjula Jain-Nagpal, a policy and research official at the FDA.
Mixed headlines have plagued the cell and gene therapy space of late. We believe that a renewed case of optimism is not only warranted but essential if these therapies are to reach their full potential.
Since July, several biotechs have been forced to pivot as previous agreements with the FDA around evidence required for approval were reversed, a phenomenon that, according to experts, could portend a more restrictive regulator.
The regulator has received reports that a group of patients treated with Adzynma had neutralizing antibodies against the protein the therapy replaces.
After revoking Sarepta’s award in July and awarding one to Krystal last month, the FDA’s platform technology designation program appears to be back on track. These six biotechs could be on the regulator’s radar.
While expressing disappointment, William Blair analysts were unsurprised by the Phase II failure, having assigned the VISTA study a high level of risk given the “mixed” performance of a similar drug in a prior multiple sclerosis study.