FDA
Aside from the rare disease market, Novo Nordisk also scored a key regulatory win last month for its blockbuster GLP-1 drug Wegovy, which can now be used to treat patients with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis.
With a flurry of recent Big Pharma investment in radiopharmaceutical therapeutics, the FDA issued draft guidance last month in a move former FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn sees as the regulator “trying to get ahead on a new set of therapy that they see becoming very important for cancer.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.—along with FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and CBER Director Vinay Prasad—argued against vaccine mandates, partly because they limited medical choice. This week, the FDA under their leadership approved updated COVID-19 vaccines with restrictions that do the same.
Scott Gottlieb, who served as FDA commissioner during the first Trump administration, wrote in a JAMA editorial that China is speeding drugs to market and could potentially surpass the U.S. in the innovation game.
Earlier this month, the FDA backed off on a pause in shipments of the chikungunya vaccine Ixchiq to older adults. Now, the regulator has reversed course.
The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System, which Commissioner Marty Makary called “clunky,” previously published updates on a quarterly basis.
The drug, for hereditary angioedema, is Ionis’ second wholly owned asset.
Krystal Biotech’s decision follows the FDA’s rejection last month of Replimune’s RP1, which works similarly to Krystal Biotech’s KB707. The biotech said this has introduced “heightened uncertainty” regarding a potential accelerated pathway for the candidate.
A draft copy of an upcoming MAHA report reveals a strategy in lockstep with recent HHS actions such as reviving the Task Force on Safer Childhood Vaccines; Viking Therapeutics reports robust efficacy from mid-stage oral obesity candidate but is tripped up by tolerability concerns; Novo Nordisk wins approval for Wegovy in MASH; and Lilly takes a pricing stand.
Capricor Therapeutics met with the FDA last week for a type A meeting, during which CEO Linda Marbán aimed to explain to the regulator that it got it wrong. Capricor plans to resubmit the application based on deramiocel’s existing dataset.
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