Distinguishing between contract law and patent law, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled against a Merck KGaA subsidiary, saying Ares Trading SA is still on the hook for paying royalties to a research partner through 2027 on sales of its cancer drug Bavencio (avelumab), a PD-L1 inhibitor granted accelerated approval in 2017 as a treatment for metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma.

Technological breakthroughs are changing the biopharmaceutical landscape and forcing regulators to think on their feet and facilitate (not impede) innovation, experts said at the Global Bio Conference (GBC) 2024. “Regulatory speed and agility are necessary amid emergencies to cater to unmet medical needs,” Choong May Ling, CEO of Singapore’s Health Sciences Authority, told audience members in Seoul, South Korea.

Although last year’s massive U.S. launch of Humira biosimilars captured headlines, the market adoption of those competitors has been nothing to write home about, even with discounts as low as 85% off the innovator price.

During a webinar arranged by Demy-Colton, panelists discussed a wide range of potential outcomes that might occur depending on which political party ends up in power next year. From tweaks to the Inflation Reduction Act to new laws to the Federal Trade Commission's regulation of M&As, there’s potential for the government to have substantial effects on the drug development industry.

Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. filed an NDA with the U.S. FDA for its radiopharmaceutical glioma imaging product, TLX-101-CDx (Pixclara, 18F-floretyrosine, 18F-FET), for the characterization of progressive or recurrent glioma from treatment-related changes in both adult and pediatric patients.

About two months after Astrazeneca plc said its application for sipavibart (AZD-3152) had been accepted by the EMA for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) against COVID-19 in immunocompromised people, Invivyd Inc. unveiled positive 180-day exploratory efficacy data from the company’s ongoing Canopy phase III trial with Pemgarda (pemivibart) in the same indication – and made known less happy news from regulators on the other side of the pond.

Five months after getting a complete response letter from the U.S. FDA, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. has landed conditional European marketing approval for odronextamab, a bispecific antibody for treating lymphoma. Now named Ordspono, the approval is for treating adult patients with relapsed or refractory follicular lymphoma or diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, after two or more lines of therapy. The European Commission also approved Merck & Co. Inc.’s Winrevair (sotatercept) for pulmonary arterial hypertension and ARS Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s Eurneffy (inhaled epinephrine) for anaphylaxis.

The long struggle by Boston-based I2o Therapeutics Inc.’s business unit Intarcia Therapeutics to get long-lasting exenatide for diabetes onto the market ended with a final thumbs-down from the U.S. FDA because of safety concerns. At issue was ITCA-650, a twice-yearly implantable exenatide-device combo meant to improve glycemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes.

The U.K. has become the first country in Europe to approve Leqembi (lecanemab), but as the breakthrough decision was announced, the health technology assessment body NICE said the benefits are too small to justify the cost of providing the Alzheimer’s disease therapy on the National Health Service (NHS).