After a long and tortuous development Astrazeneca plc’s anifrolumab has been approved by the FDA for the autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), setting up a rivalry with its U.K.-based counterpart Glaxosmithkline plc. The first-in-class type 1 interferon receptor antibody, the first new drug for the disease in a decade, will be marketed under the brand name Saphnelo for adults with moderate to severe disease who are receiving standard therapy.
The FDA has posted a final rule for its intended use policy for devices, drugs and biologics, which formalizes the elimination of the totality-of-the-evidence approach to determining the manufacturer’s intended use. While the final rule says that mere knowledge of off-label use cannot be the sole determinant of the manufacturer’s intended use, the rule still allows the FDA to infer intended use by “any relevant source of evidence,” a term that may be sufficiently squishy to be functionally equivalent to the controversial totality-of-the-evidence standard.
Ushering in a new era for the U.S. biosimilar marketplace, the FDA, on July 28, approved its first interchangeable biosimilar, which also will be the first to bring biosimilar competition to the U.S. insulin space. The honor went to Viatris Inc.’s Semglee, which the FDA recognized as both biosimilar to and interchangeable with Sanofi SA’s blockbuster drug Lantus (insulin glargine), a long-acting insulin analogue.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact the FDA’s inspection program, U.S. lawmakers are worrying about what that may mean for future drug approvals.
“We are . . . concerned that we have not yet seen the full impact of delayed inspections, particularly in the case of preapproval inspections,” the bipartisan leadership of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and its Health Subcommittee said in a July 22 letter to acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock.
The U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy and the National Science Foundation are issuing a request for information to help the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Task Force in developing an implementation roadmap.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had previously reported it would more tightly scrutinize mergers and acquisitions with an eye toward the impact on competition, and voted July 21 to expand its authority to review these activities. The agency also voted to eliminate restrictions by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) on servicing of their devices, thus putting both drug and device makers on alert that much more rigorous FTC enforcement has arrived.
More than a decade after the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act became law and nearly six years after the first biosimilar launched in the U.S., the country’s first potential interchangeable is on deck awaiting an FDA decision.
A proposed $26 billion global settlement could end the state-by-state opioid litigation in the U.S. for Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and three drug distributors. The attorneys general from several states announced the proposed agreement July 21 with J&J, Amerisource Bergen Drug Corp., Cardinal Health Inc. and McKesson Corp.
Responding to the growing number of state-sponsored cyber threats to health care and other key sectors and to the compromise of the Microsoft Exchange Server, which was disclosed in March, Canada, the EU, U.K., U.S. and other NATO allies issued statements July 19 laying out expectations and markers for how responsible nations behave in cyberspace and specifically calling out China’s “malicious cyber activity.”
Three of the largest biopharma distributors in the U.S. agreed to a settlement of $1.179 billion with New York, bowing out of the state’s ongoing opioid lawsuit.
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