The U.S. FDA cleared 21 drugs for market in March, topping 16 approvals granted in February and 12 in January. That brought the first quarter (Q1) total to 49 approvals, just one short of the 50 logged in Q1 2024, making it the second-highest Q1 count in BioWorld’s records.
Nearly three weeks into the job, U.S. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary provided a comprehensive overview of his vision for the much-reduced agency, even as he’s taking first steps to implement his agenda.
The U.S. FDA issued a complete response letter in October 2023 for Dupixent (dupilumab) in treating chronic hives but has now approved the monoclonal antibody for the indication. The approval makes Dupixent the first targeted biologic the agency has approved in the past 11 years for chronic spontaneous urticaria.
The next major shock wave to hit the U.S. biopharma and med-tech industries could be the fiscal 2026 federal budget. Nearly one-third of the discretionary budget for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) could be wiped out, according to the White House Office of Management and Budget’s “pre-decisional” budget proposal, or passback, for HHS.
China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has accepted Innocare Pharma Ltd.’s NDA for its second-generation pan-tropomyosin receptor kinase inhibitor, zurletrectinib (ICP-723), for treating adults and adolescents with advanced solid tumors harboring neurotrophic tyrosine receptor kinase gene fusions.
After more than three years of discussion, the World Health Organization’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) has agreed on a proposal to prevent, prepare and respond to a pandemic. The plan is born, the INB proposal said, out of inequities around the world that slowed timely and equitable access to health products to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a blast from the past, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order April 15 to deliver on his 2016 campaign promises and strengthen or reinstate efforts of his first administration to drive down prescription drug prices. “My first term included numerous significant actions, including some of the most aggressive in recent history, to deliver lower prescription drug prices to American patients,” Trump noted in the order, which builds on many of those actions, including increased competition, re-importation, price transparency and a mandate to pass discounts through to patients.
Phase I/II trial results of sacituzumab tirumotecan (sac-TMT; Sichuan Kelun-Biotech Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd.) published in Nature Medicine came a month after China’s National Medical Products Administration gave clearance to Kelun-Biotech’s supplemental NDA of sac-TMT to treat advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
U.S. tariffs on biopharmaceuticals have advanced beyond administration talking points.As a precursor to tariffs, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick initiated an investigation under section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act to determine the effects on national security of importing prescription drugs, according to a request for public comments scheduled to be published in the April 16 Federal Register. Publication of the notice will kick off a 21-day comment period.
The new technology add-on payment for the TAG thoracic branch endoprosthesis is likely coming to an end, but the device’s manufacturer, Gore Medical Inc., petitioned CMS to reassign the procedure to a new diagnostic-related group that would more accurately reflect the costs of the related procedure.
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