On Thursday, the Supreme Court handed the Trump administration another significant victory in its attempts to defund NIH-sponsored research. In a 5-4 decision, the justices paused the June 16 order of U.S. District Judge William Young to restore funding for hundreds of canceled NIH research grants focusing on gender and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). The funding had first been cut through a series of executive orders shortly after President Donald Trump resumed power in January.
South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) launched a new industry-academia-research consortium to support the nation’s organoid industry, expected to grow in light of the U.S. FDA’s shift away from animal testing in the development of novel drugs.
No matter what level of tariff the Trump administration ends up imposing on biopharmaceuticals across the world, drugs and their precursors originating in the EU will face no more than a 15% tariff when imported to the U.S., according to an Aug. 21 EU-U.S. joint statement regarding the trade framework agreement between the two trade partners.
Showing similar results as the first phase III trial completed in 2022, Nicox SA’s nitric oxide-donating bimatoprost eye drop, NCX-470, met the primary endpoint in the phase III Denali trial for open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension, clearing the way for regulatory filings in both the U.S. and China.
In Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s second U.S. FDA approval in under a year, the agency approved Dawnzera (donidalorsen) as a prophylactic therapy in the rare and genetic disease hereditary angioedema (HAE). The approval came as scheduled as the NDA had a PDUFA date of Aug. 21. Dawnzera now joins a market with previously approved drugs for the rare, genetic, life-threatening condition, as well as other companies with HAE drugs in development.
With a few tweaks to the protocol, Rocket Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s phase II trial testing RP-A501 in Danon disease is expected to resume following the lifting of the clinical hold, issued by the U.S. FDA in May in response to the death of a patient in the pivotal gene therapy study.
For more than 30 years, the U.S. CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) worked together to harmonize their evidence-based vaccine schedules. Not anymore.
CSL Ltd.’s stock tumbled 16.88% on the news that it plans to cut 3,000 jobs and to hive off its Seqirus vaccine unit in a cost-cutting measure to save more than $500 million per year over the next three years.
It looks like Biogen Inc.’s Nrf2 activator, Skyclarys (omaveloxolone), will maintain its status as the sole therapy approved for treating patients with Friedreich’s ataxia (FA), at least for now. The U.S. FDA asked for another “adequate and well-controlled study” in the complete response letter (CRL) issued to PTC Therapeutics Inc. for 15-lipoxygenase inhibitor vatiquinone. The agency said “substantial evidence of efficacy was not demonstrated.”
A U.S. appeals court schooled the FDA as it handed Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. a “technical knockout” of sorts in yet another regulatory bout with the agency – this one over the FDA’s refusal to grant the company’s request for a hearing after it had received a complete response letter (CRL) for a jet lag supplemental indication for Hetlioz (tasimelteon).