Regulatory
Amid recent backlash stemming from market withdrawals and trial delays, the FDA seeks to further clarify its requirements for confirmatory trials for therapies seeking the shortened path to market.
The FDA’s guidance on AI in drug development points to potentially life-threatening consequences of the technology, highlighting the importance of providing the regulator with detailed information regarding models’ development and maintenance.
In its Citizen Petition to the FDA, Novo Nordisk argued that there is no clinical need to allow compounding for liraglutide, the type 2 diabetes injection it sells as Victoza.
Among the FDA’s pending decisions for this quarter are Vertex’s non-opioid pain drug and Sanofi’s RNA interference therapy for hemophilia A and B.
Regulators squeezed in two final approvals before the calendar change with the UK approval of Merck’s Winrevair and the FDA’s greenlight for an injectable formulation of BMS’s cancer blockbuster.
Other notable greenlights this year include Bristol Myers Squibb’s Cobenfy, the first novel therapeutic for schizophrenia in 35 years, and Madrigal Pharmaceuticals’ Rezdiffra, the first-ever treatment for MASH.
Madrigal Pharmaceuticals, X4 Pharmaceuticals and Day One Biopharmaceuticals secured their maiden approvals this year in metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, WHIM syndrome and pediatric low-grade glioma. Geron Corporation and ImmunityBio also notched wins.
Despite securing the industry’s first approval for familial chylomicronemia syndrome, BMO Capital Markets believes that Tryngolza’s regulatory triumph will not be a significant positive for Ionis. Instead, the firm is focusing on olezarsen’s readout in severe hypertriglyceridemia, a much larger market.
The approval concludes what has been a difficult regulatory path for Ryoncil, which suffered FDA rejections in 2020 and 2023.
While layoffs have slowed in the second half of the year, according to BioSpace data, companies including Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson are cutting hundreds or even thousands of employees in 2024.
PRESS RELEASES