Continuing the spate of regulatory approvals for pulsed field ablation (PFA) devices around the world, Johnson & Johnson’s Biosense Webster Inc. unit secured CE mark for the Varipulse platform for treatment of symptomatic, drug-refractory recurrent paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.
Korean neurodegenerative disease-focused Aribio Co. Ltd. gained the U.K.’s regulatory clearance to start the phase III Polaris-AD trial on AR-1001 (mirodenafil), an investigative therapy for early Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency gave notice of acceptance to Seoul, South Korea- and San Diego-based Aribio for the clinical study on Feb. 21 after “confirming a favorable ethical opinion,” Aribio said. AR-1001 is an oral phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor under development to treat early AD.
Korean neurodegenerative disease-focused Aribio Co. Ltd. gained the U.K.’s regulatory clearance to start the phase III Polaris-AD trial on AR-1001 (mirodenafil), an investigative therapy for early Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency gave notice of acceptance to Seoul, South Korea- and San Diego-based Aribio for the clinical study on Feb. 21 after “confirming a favorable ethical opinion,” Aribio said. AR-1001 is an oral phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor under development to treat early AD.
Chief executives of U.K. medical research charities have issued a call for speedier uptake and more equitable access to new drugs that have received a cost-effectiveness seal of approval from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. In a joint report with the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, the heads of eight charities examined a number of cases where access has been limited and set out recommendations to address the challenges of equity, uptake and health inequalities.
Seven new therapies, including two influenza vaccines, were recommended for approval by the EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use during its February 2024 meeting. One of these was sparsentan by CSL Vifor Pharma Inc. and Travere Therapeutics Inc. for the treatment of IgA nephropathy (IgAN), for which the committee has awarded conditional marketing authorization.
The U.K.’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has given people looking to lose weight another treatment option by recommending endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty (ESG) as a therapy to help treat obesity. The move comes amidst increasing awareness of the disease brought on by the growing prevalence of GLP-1 agonists.
The €173 million (US$187 million) in capital that Earlybird Health recently raked in from investors will go towards bolstering investment in European health care startups, many of which are still recovering from the impact of COVID-19, Thom Rasche, a partner at Earlybird Health, told BioWorld. The fund is looking to invest in the technologies that can improve patient care.
Through its intellectual property holding company, Eindhoven, the Netherlands-based Bambi Medical BV is seeking patent protection for an enhancement to its flexible sensor belt that is worn around the abdomen for monitoring the vital signs of neonates.
Inventiva SA has halted enrollment in its pivotal phase III Nativ3 trial with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) candidate lanifibranor after a patient experienced raised liver enzymes indicative of autoimmune hepatitis. The resulting delays to the study could spell trouble for the firm, which estimates its cash runway will only see it through to the start of the third quarter 2024.
Venture capital (VC) firm TVM Capital Life Science recently co-led a $16 million series A financing for Vektor Medical Inc., which has developed an AI-based tool that identifies potential arrhythmia source locations. The funding is part of TVM’s strategy of investing in med-tech companies which have no development risk and offer an exit opportunity in under four years.