The U.K. became the first country to reach agreement with the U.S. over threatened tariffs in an “economic prosperity deal” that leaves the pharma industry hanging on for the outcome of the U.S. section 232 probe into the implications of pharmaceutical imports for America’s national security.
Verastem Oncology Inc. CEO Dan Paterson said he is “not expecting a huge bolus [of ovarian cancer patients] at the beginning” of Avmapki/Fakzynja’s launch, but momentum will build over time. “Based on our market research, this [drug] is the most likely thing for them to go on next,” he added, noting that patients tend to be on the drug for an average of 18 months.
Finding that a lower court went too far with an injunction that ignores the Hatch-Waxman safe harbor protections for drug development, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit handed Avadel CNS Pharmaceuticals LLC a win of sorts.
Planting seed money and “wishing” is not enough to claim “irreparable harm” to secure a preliminary injunction or to establish the standing required to appeal a patent board decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled May 7 in two decisions involving Incyte Corp. and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.
Ongoing policy issues in the U.S., including the Inflation Reduction Act and recent proposals under President Donald Trump’s administration, have wide ranging implications for the global biopharmaceutical industry, speakers at Bio Korea 2025 said May 8, including a heightened need for all biotechs to draft regulatory strategies.
Legislators in Washington again are considering a pair of bills that would affect how patents are obtained and sustained including the Patent Eligibility Restoration Act of 2025. This would constitute a big win for companies in the life sciences thanks to provisions that clarify just what is and is not eligible for patent protection.
In a throwback to the Obama administration, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order pausing federally funded research using infectious pathogens and toxins that may pose a danger until a safer, more enforceable and transparent policy governing such research can be developed and implemented.
South Korean government and biopharmaceutical industry representatives urged American policymakers May 7 to refrain from imposing tariffs on pharmaceutical imports, and to spare allies if pharma tariffs are deemed necessary. Both Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare on May 4 and the Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization on May 6 submitted comments to the U.S. Department of Commerce in response to its ongoing investigation of pharmaceutical imports.
The appointment May 6 of Vinay Prasad as the head of the U.S. FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) “bodes poorly” for Sarepta Therapeutics Inc.’s development-stage pipeline, said Wainwright analyst Mitchell Kapoor – and Wall Street reflected as much, as the stock (NASDAQ:SRPT) ended that day down 26.6% vs. an XBI drop of 6.6% – this ahead of the after-hours earnings disclosure that pushed the Cambridge, Mass.-based firm down even farther by more than another 20%, with the XBI unchanged.
In an ongoing effort to onshore more of the biopharma supply chain, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order (EO) late May 5 to shorten the time involved in bringing a new manufacturing plant or expansion online and to remove some of the incentives for foreign production of finished drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients.