What’s the status of the U.S. FTC’s investigation into pharmacy benefit managers’ (PBMs) role in prescription drug prices? Inquiring minds in the Senate really want to know, especially since the investigation began more than 18 months ago. “We urge the FTC to complete its 6(b) study in a timely manner,” 14 senators, led by Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), wrote in a Jan. 22 letter to FTC Chair Lina Khan.
Quality-of-life claims in a TV ad for breast cancer drug Kisqali (ribociclib) earned Novartis AG the first untitled letter of 2024 from the U.S. FDA’s Office of Prescription Drug Promotion (OPDP).
Carl Zeiss Meditec AG recently received U.S. FDA clearance for the latest generation of its femtosecond laser, the Visumax 800, with its Smile pro software, for surgically treating nearsightedness, with or without astigmatism.
The ongoing controversy over patent subject matter eligibility gained new momentum via a Jan. 23 U.S. Senate hearing, during which a bipartisan pair of senators once again pushed the argument that current jurisprudence for subject matter eligibility is hampering U.S. life science companies.
The U.S. FDA has granted Mesoblast Ltd.’s allogeneic cell therapy Revascor (rexlemestrocel-L) rare pediatric disease designation following submission of results from a clinical trial in children with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a potentially life-threatening congenital heart condition.
The U.S. FDA issued a complete response letter to Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories Ltd.’s U.S. subsidiary, Satsuma Pharmaceuticals Inc., for its NDA for dihydroergotamine nasal powder (STS-101) for acute treatment of migraine, with or without aura, in adults. Shin Nippon acquired Satsuma for $220 million in April 2023 and gained rights to STS-101.
Legislation passed in the U.S. Congress in 2013 called upon the federal government to dispense with the Federal Helium Reserve by September 2021, a deadline that some stakeholders are grateful to see has passed without action.
With little fanfare, the Biden administration dropped its appeal Jan. 16 of a recent court decision that vacated a 2021 U.S. Health and Human Services rule permitting health insurance issuers and group health plans to use so-called copay accumulator adjustment programs that prevent drug manufacturers’ copay assistance from counting toward a patient’s deductible or out-of-pocket maximum.
Is it an unconstitutional taking when U.S. FDA reviewers disclose a brand company’s claimed trade secrets or confidential commercial information to would-be competitors? That’s a question the U.S. Court of Federal Claims has yet to answer. While the court dismissed some of Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s claims against the FDA, its Jan. 18 opinion left open the debate of whether such disclosures, intentional or inadvertent, are a per se or regulatory taking.
The U.S. FDA has granted Mesoblast Ltd.’s allogeneic cell therapy Revascor (rexlemestrocel-L) rare pediatric disease designation following submission of results from a clinical trial in children with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a potentially life-threatening congenital heart condition.