Shares of ARS Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:SPRY) plummeted 55.8% Sept. 20 on word that the U.S. FDA issued a complete response letter (CRL) for Neffy, despite receiving a recommendation for approval in May from the agency’s advisory committee (adcom) and following a three-month delay in action.
The U.S. FDA is still sorting through the feedback for its proposal to modestly align the Quality System Regulation with ISO 13485, but the agency has posted a draft four-year plan for regulatory harmonization that is substantially broader in scope than just quality management system considerations. While this proposal addresses a significant need for device makers working in multiple markets, the objectives include an assessment of at least nine non-FDA harmonization proposals by the end of fiscal year 2025, a clear indicator that harmonization will continue to be every bit the slog it has proven to be in recent years.
The U.S. FDA’s Accreditation Scheme for Conformity Assessment (ASCA) program is one of a number of efforts on the agency’s part to reduce the drag on premarket medical device submissions, but the agency has now converted the ASCA pilot into a full-blown regulatory program. Fortunately for both the FDA and industry, most of the guidance groundwork is already in place, making the ASCA program a ready-to-go method for streamlining at least one element of premarket applications for medical devices.
A Sept. 21 U.S. FDA advisory committee meeting will either be a “Hail Mary” or a last gasp of life for ITCA-650, a twice-yearly implantable exenatide-device combination product intended to improve glycemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes.
Before the Wall Street opening bell on Tuesday, Boston Scientific Corp. reported plans to acquire privately held Relievant Medsystems Inc. for $850 million in cash at closing plus undisclosed payments contingent on sales performance of the company’s lead product, the Intracept intraosseous nerve ablation system, over the next three years.
The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is once again in the crosshairs thanks to issues related to pharmacy benefits managers and coverage of novel medical devices, with Congress mulling over two dozen pieces of Medicare-related legislation.
Developers of combination products face an unusual dilemma in their interactions with the U.S. FDA, given that the data for the constituent products reside in multiple product centers. Some of the related clunkiness may soon be a thing of the past thanks to a new four-year proposal to overhaul the FDA’s information technology infrastructure, which among other things will emphasize a more seamless sharing of data across centers, precisely the kind of initiative that would facilitate reviews of combination products.
If the U.S. FDA has its way, biosimilars and interchangeable biosimilars would no longer be a difference with a distinction – at least when it comes to labeling. Instead of distinguishing between the two, the agency is recommending that the labeling for both follow-ons include a “biosimilarity statement.”
Five years after Gilead Sciences Inc. gave up on momelotinib in the wake of two phase III failures in myelofibrosis, the JAK1/2 and ACVR1 inhibitor has found its way to the market in the hands of GSK plc. Branded Ojjaara, the drug gained U.S. FDA approval for use in intermediate- or high-risk myelofibrosis patients with anemia regardless of prior administration with JAK inhibitors such as Jakafi (ruxolitinib, Incyte Corp.).
Apple Inc., of Cupertino, Calif., has prevailed over Masimo Corp., in a ruling at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, an outcome that invalidated several Masimo patents for physiological monitoring. However, the two companies are not finished with each other yet as the International Trade Commission has yet to rule on a similar case that could foreclose importation of Apple devices on grounds of patent infringement.
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