The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting opened at the McCormick Place convention center in Chicago with after-lunchtime sessions on breast cancer, melanoma, sarcoma and advancements on adjuvant cancer vaccines. As ASCO revved up, the CEOs of Merck & Co. Inc., Gilead Sciences Inc. and Eli Lilly and Co. vented their frustrations about the impact of the Inflation Reduction Act on innovation.
Moderna Inc. gained U.S. FDA approval on May 31, nearly three weeks past its original PDUFA date, for its respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine Mresvia (mRNA-1345), which had both breakthrough therapy and fast track designations in the U.S.
Despite U.S. NIH policy and its peer-review grant process, providing for inclusive enrollment in phase III NIH-funded clinical trials seems to be a check-the-box exercise for many researchers. In a review of a sample of phase III NIH-funded trials conducted between 2016 and 2020, the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General found that two-thirds had the required inclusive enrollment plans, but 57% of the trial plans provided no explanation or rationale for the enrollment targets.
Celltrion Inc., of Incheon, South Korea, gained MFDS clearance of Eydenzelt (CT-P42) as a biosimilar referencing Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc./Bayer AG’s Eylea (aflibercept) on May 30. The news comes on the heels of the U.S. FDA approving the first Eylea interchangeable biosimilars on May 20.
The EU has given the go ahead for a large-scale transnational project that will invest €6.9 billion (US$7.45 billion) to address unmet medical need and fill gaps across the pharmaceutical value chain.
A recent hearing in the U.S. House of Representatives highlighted some of the issues Congress has with the agency’s performance, but there were questions as well about the FDA’s statutory authorities. One of these is the lack of statutory authority to require a recall for prescription drugs as well as the deadline for notifying the agency of device recalls, both of which are areas of legislative interest on the part of Congress.
Novo Nordisk A/S’s once-weekly human insulin analogue for adults with type 1 diabetes mellitus could be a useful tool for patients and physicians, the U.S. FDA’s Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee said May 24, but it also agreed that the risks outweighed the benefits for improving glycemic control.
South Korea’s Celltrion Inc. secured May 22 the European Commission’s go-ahead for Omlyclo (CT-P39) to be the first biosimilar to Genentech Inc./Novartis AG’s Xolair (omalizumab) in Europe for three of its major indications.
Weighing in on the side of 21 drug and device companies accused of knowingly aiding and abetting terrorist attacks against U.S. troops and civilians in Iraq from 2005 to 2011, the U.S. solicitor general is asking the Supreme Court to grant the companies’ petition for cert and then vacate a 2022 appellate court decision in Joshua Atchley v. Astrazeneca plc, remanding it for reconsideration in light of a related opinion the justices handed down a year ago.
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