U.S. trading partners are raising concerns about the FDA’s continued delays in inspecting foreign drug manufacturing facilities due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related travel restrictions.
The first approval for treating advanced malignant perivascular epithelioid cell tumor (PEComa) in adults has been awarded by the FDA to Aadi Bioscience Inc.’s Fyarro. The number of patients is low, from 100 to 300 patients annually in the U.S., but the geography the company hopes to sell to is wide as it takes in Europe and China.
Even as antimicrobial resistance is expected to continue to grow, the development of much-needed novel antibiotics and antifungals remains trapped in a catch-22 in which funding is available for early stage research but not necessarily for the translational work necessary to bring the drugs to market.
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: AB Science, Antengene, Biogen, BMS, Gilead, Gracell, Moderna, Pfizer, Roche.
The FDA amended emergency use authorizations (EUAs) for the Moderna Inc. COVID-19 vaccine as well as the shot from Pfizer Inc. and Biontech SE. A single booster dose was green-lighted for people 18 years and older at least six months after finishing the primary regimen with either of the vaccines, or at least two months after getting the Johnson & Johnson shot.
Biomarin Pharmaceutical Inc.’s data supporting the use of Voxzogo (vosoritide) in children with the most common form of dwarfism proved compelling for the FDA, which cleared the modified C-type natriuretic peptide as the first treatment for the rare genetic disease affecting bone growth.
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Armata, Heron, Longeveron, Mediwound, Merck, Molecular Templates, Verrica, Vitro.
A Chinese patent covering methods and compositions for the use of CRISPR-Cas9 in eukaryotes has been granted to Dublin-based Ers Genomics Ltd., making what Michael Arciero, vice president of intellectual property and commercial development at the company, called “a strong but not surprising statement by China,” which has made the biotechnology industry one of its top national priorities.