Citing significant concerns of bacterial contamination, the FDA urged consumers and health care providers to stop using specific lots of SD Biosensor Inc.’s Pilot COVID-19 At-Home Tests, which were distributed by Roche Diagnostics Systems Inc. The agency warned that direct contact with the contaminated liquid solution could pose safety issues as well as impair the test’s performance.
Insulet Corp. once again broke records with a nearly 50% increase in Omnipod revenues in U.S. in the first quarter and a 32% increase in revenue from the tubeless insulin delivery device worldwide. In an unusual move following such positive quarterly results, the company simultaneously announced a major shake-up in the leadership team, with multiple senior members moving to new positions starting July 1. The latest round of musical chairs comes almost exactly a year after the last at the Insulet, when Founder, President and CEO Shacey Petrovic stepped down and Jim Hollingshead assumed the top spot.
Even though COVID-19 is transitioning from pandemic to endemic across the world, it will remain first in mind as U.S. lawmakers look to reauthorize the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA) this year to ensure the country is better prepared for future threats. With a Sept. 30 deadline for reauthorizing PAHPA, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee has its work cut out for it. But it won’t be starting from scratch. In opening a May 4 hearing on the reauthorization, HELP Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said the committee would build on the efforts started last year under then-Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and now-retired Ranking Member Richard Burr (R-N.C.).
In a draft guidance released May 2, the U.S. FDA provided recommendations for sponsors, investigators and other stakeholders for implementation of decentralized clinical trials to advance research in medical devices, drugs and biologics.
The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) may look like domestic affair, but the drug price controls it is bringing in are set to impact the biopharma sector across the globe.
With the COVID-19 public health emergency ending in the U.S. next week, Congress is looking to use the lessons learned from the pandemic to draft a new iteration of the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act to ensure the country is better prepared for the next pandemic.
The FDA gave the greenlight to Route 92 Medical Inc. for its Freeclimb 70 reperfusion system in the treatment of ischemic stroke. The 510(k) clearance includes a Freeclimb 70 aspiration catheter, as well as a Tenzing 7 delivery catheter.
In a draft guidance released May 2, the U.S. FDA provided recommendations for sponsors, investigators and other stakeholders for implementation of decentralized clinical trials (DCTs) to advance research in medical devices, drugs and biologics. This week’s announcement responds to the Food and Drug Omnibus Reform Act, signed into law late last year, which required the agency to “issue or revise draft guidance that includes recommendations to clarify and advance the use of decentralized clinical studies to support the development of drugs and devices.”
Bausch + Lomb Corp. reported its U.S. launch of an ophthalmic viscosurgical device (OVD) designed to protect patients during cataract surgery. The Totalvisc viscoelastic system is a dual action chemical protection system that employs viscoelastics which have the properties of both a fluid and an elastic. Unlike its competitors it also features sorbitol to eliminate free radicals that cause oxidative damage in eye tissue.
The U.S. FDA has approved the country’s first-ever respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine, Arexvy, from GSK plc. The adjuvanted vaccine is also the first for older adults anywhere on the planet. GSK now has a head start to vaccinate the U.S. market, but other big companies, such as Sanofi SA and especially Pfizer Inc., are in late-stage development and will pose strong challenges in the coming year. Pfizer’s PF-0692831/RSVpreF, an RSV vaccine for treating lower respiratory tract disease caused by RSV, has a priority BLA with a May 31 PDUFA date.