The five-year voluntary pricing deal between pharma companies and the U.K. Department of Health is under severe pressure after the rebate the industry is due to pay leapt from 15.3% in 2024 to 22.9% for 2025. That has put “a very real strain” on companies, which have not factored this into their 2025 budgets because they were planning around an agreed forecast that the 2025 rebate rate would remain at around 15%, according to the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industries (ABPI).
President Donald Trump’s recently issued executive order (EO) putting a stop to diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in the U.S. government is sending ripples far and wide, into areas that some might not have anticipated. The FDA has taken down from its website the guidelines regarding action plans related to achieving diversity in clinical trials.
In an indication that has proved difficult for biopharma to conquer, Regulus Therapeutics Inc. disclosed further positive data from its ongoing phase Ib study testing RGLS-8429 in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease and laid out its plans to move straight into a phase III trial later this year, with the potential for an accelerated U.S. approval.
In a U.S. Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing marked by shouted protests, outbursts of applause and tense exchanges on several issues, including ones beyond the reach of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK) tried to present himself as someone who follows the science, not a conspiracy theorist or anti-vaxxer.
False Claims Act litigation in the U.S. spiked significantly according to a new report by Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP, at least in terms of the number of cases brought to the courts. However, the report added that the total dollar value of these cases is in line with historical norms, suggesting that the average recovery amount has tapered off significantly.
A former regional sales director at Lantheus Holdings Inc. is the latest biopharma official to settle insider trading charges with the U.S. SEC. As part of the settlement, John Heropoulos agreed to disgorge nearly $61,000, an equal amount in civil penalties and more than $10,000 in prejudgment interest, according to the SEC.
Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has approved CSL Ltd.’s Andembry (garadacimab) for preventing recurrent hereditary angioedema attacks, marking the first global approval for the drug that was discovered and developed in Australia by CSL scientists.
In another cautionary tale of kicking all the tires before an acquisition, Pfizer Inc. agreed to a nearly $60 million settlement to resolve a whistleblower’s claims that Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Co. Ltd. was paying kickbacks to induce prescriptions of its migraine drug ahead of Pfizer’s $11.6 billion acquisition of the company in October 2022.
A U.S. Federal Claims Court judge shot down Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s accusations that the FDA disclosed the company’s trade secrets to generic competitors, finding that the trade secrets weren’t really secret or necessarily proprietary to Vanda.
The U.S. FDA approved 19 drugs in December, an increase from 10 in November. In total, 228 FDA approvals were granted in 2024, averaging 19 per month. Seven new molecular entities were approved in December, bringing the year's total to 49.
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