The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently issued a provisional list of five U.S.-listed Chinese companies that reportedly failed to submit necessary accounting reports required under Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act. The list included three biopharmas: Beigene Ltd., Hutchmed Ltd., and Zai Lab Ltd.
2023 may be a pivotal year for biosimilars in the U.S. with a number of approved Humira (adalimumab) biosimilars set for staggered launches under agreements with Abbvie Inc. How successful those launches are, including the launch of Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH’s interchangeable, Cyltezo, and potential other interchangeables, will be determined in large part by three pharmacy benefit managers that together control the prescription drug formularies for nearly 80% of Americans covered by Medicare and private insurance.
The list of FDA warning letters in recent months has conspicuous in its absence of letters to device makers, but that trend has reversed with three warnings posted March 8, including a warning letter to Cardioquip LLC.
Three U.S.-listed China-based biopharmas were among five companies named this week by the U.S. SEC for reportedly failing to submit necessary accounting reports under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (HFCAA).
The U.S. FDA has issued an advisory regarding vulnerabilities identified in the Axeda line of remote access software published by PTC Inc., which may affect more than 100 products made by dozens of manufacturers. The vulnerability could allow a hacker to trigger changes in the operation of the affected devices, a massive risk to patients undergoing medical imaging and radiotherapy procedures. The FDA notice stated that the Axeda Agent and desktop server programs are the subject of a notice by the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which characterizes the vulnerability as requiring only a low-complexity attack to exploit.
Musculoskeletal (MSK) care company Sword Health Inc. has released a new digital therapy focused on pelvic pain and postpartum recovery. The Bloom sensor tracks and measures the pressure of the pelvic floor, with real-time feedback provided via an app. The technology then combines with clinical guidance from pelvic health specialists to help women create personalized exercise programs.
Disagreement over offsets for an additional $15.6 billion in COVID-19 funding forced the supplemental pandemic funds recently requested by the White House to be cut from the fiscal 2022 spending bill, so the U.S. House would have the votes to pass the $1.5 trillion omnibus spending package late March 9.
The Biden administration sees the $15.6 billion just provided by Congress as inadequate funding for the pandemic, particularly given the administration’s new test-to-treat initiative, and will continue to press Congress for the remaining $6.9 billion requested by the White House, said Tom Inglesby, senior advisor for the White House COVID response team, at the American Clinical Laboratory Association annual meeting.
The FDA and device makers have finally wrapped up what may be the most contentious set of negotiations in the history of the device user fee program. Despite industrial antipathy to a recurrent doubling of user fee volumes, the fifth device user fee deal will provide the FDA with as much as $1.9 billion in user fees, roughly double the fees collected under the current agreement.
If the U.S. SEC goes forward with amendments it proposed March 9 to enhance and standardize cybersecurity-related disclosures, public biopharma and med-tech companies will have more reporting to do.
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