South Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare (MHW) is currently discussing the implementation of a preferential drug pricing system and plans to initiate an expert survey in 2022. The preferential drug pricing system is part of a three-prong strategy that South Korea plans to adopt to promote the growth of eight leading companies in the pharmaceutical, medical device and cosmetic industries by 2030.
Given the ethics and feasibility of placebo-controlled COVID-19 vaccine trials, Access Consortium members are recognizing appropriately designed immunobridging studies as an acceptable approach for authorizing the vaccines, including those being developed to protect against SARS-CoV-2 variants.
LONDON – The U.K. government has accepted the recommendation of medical experts and will begin the rollout of COVID-19 boosters from next week, using mRNA vaccines only. That follows data from the U.K. Cov-Boost trial, looking at combinations of initial and booster doses. The results showed Pfizer Inc./Biontech SE’s and Moderna Inc.’s products generated the best immune responses, regardless of which vaccine was administered initially.
A fourth child has died after developing liver complications on a trial of Astellas Pharma Inc.’s gene therapy for rare neuromuscular disease, after FDA advisers noted the problems on the ASPIRO study in a discussion on gene therapy safety. Last week, Astellas announced that it had stopped dosing on ASPIRO after a safety issue involving liver function emerged in the trial of the gene therapy AT-132, aimed at the life-threatening rare disease X-linked myotubular myopathy.
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: ADC, Alnylam, Beigene, Chiesi, Hummingbird, Hutchmed, Instil, Mirum, Monopar, Redhill, Relief, Scynexis, Tonix, Y-Mabs.
The Biden administration may have jumped ahead of the FDA review when it announced last month that it planned to roll out COVID-19 boosters by Sept. 20, but that’s not likely to happen when it comes to the timing of vaccines for young children.
The days may be numbered for drug companies telling the FDA one thing to expedite approval and then telling the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) something else to ensure they get a new patent.
Minhai Biotechnology Co. Ltd. has won approval from the NMPA for its 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, which makes it the third company with such a vaccine to be greenlighted in China.
It was a busy week for the U.K.’s drugs regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority (MHRA), which fast tracked decisions on novel drugs for cancer and eczema and made a ruling on booster COVID-19 jabs from Astrazeneca plc and Pfizer Inc. But even as Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted his support over the approval of Amgen Inc.’s cancer drug Lumykras, there are questions over the future of the regulator as it faces a round of job cuts because of a lack of funding following Brexit.
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Cantargia, Mirror.