Washington-based Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. has faced a challenging few years involving a federal lawsuit against the U.S. FDA, patent infringement litigation, increasing generic competition and dwindling sales, as well as a complete response letter nixing plans to expand its melatonin receptor agonist Hetlioz (tasimelteon) into insomnia, yet it has recently received a higher, unsolicited acquisition offer of $466 million from a second company, Cycle Pharmaceuticals Ltd.
Although the U.S. FDA unexpectedly sprang the news on Eli Lilly and Co. that it would hold an advisory committee meeting on the BLA for the company’s Alzheimer’s disease drug, donanemab, the agency’s briefing document for the June 10 meeting doesn’t appear to hold any surprises.
Medical device manufacturers based in China may feel the FDA has a bullseye on their backs, but two firms located in Canada were the subjects of recently posted FDA warning letters.
The discussion that preceded the June 4 U.S. FDA advisory committee vote against the approval of Lykos Therapeutics Inc.’s midomafetamine as a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder could shine some light on the way forward for other sponsors developing psychedelics for approved medical use.
Molecular diagnostics company Genetic Signatures Ltd. is gearing up to launch its Easyscreen gastrointestinal parasite detection kit in the U.S. following its first FDA 510(k) clearance.
The saga of Illumina Inc.’s attempt to reacquire Grail Inc., seems to have come to an end with a capitulation to market regulatory authorities, but Illumina has chosen to spin off Menlo Park, Calif,-based Grail rather than sell the company outright.
Shanghai Fudan-Zhangjiang Bio-Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has received IND clearance in China by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) to conduct a phase I trial of its antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) FZ-AD005 for advanced solid tumors.
The FDA has granted orphan drug designation to Be Biopharma Inc.’s BE-101, a novel engineered B-cell medicine being developed for the treatment of hemophilia B.
Pierre Fabre Laboratories (Pierre Fabre SA) has filed an IND application to the FDA to initiate a first-in-human trial with PFL-002 (VERT-002) for solid tumors, including non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Although several members of the U.S. FDA’s Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee said they thought Lykos Therapeutics Inc.’s midomafetamine (MDMA), used in combination with psychotherapy, is a promising treatment for post-traumatic stress syndrome, they were not ready to endorse its approval.
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