In a May 8 Senate hearing, U.S. FDA commissioner Bob Califf described the agency’s advisory committee process as a useful source of information, but Califf reassured members of the Senate that the FDA is not intent in doing away with advisory hearing votes altogether.

This time a positive result for a cancer screening test brought good news, as Geneoscopy Inc. secured U.S. FDA approval for its RNA screening test for colorectal cancer. The agency based its decision on strong results from the phase III CRC-PREVENT trial in its approval of the noninvasive test for use in individuals aged 45 years and older with average risk for the disease.

Suzhou Sanegene Bio Inc.’s clinical trial application for SGB-3908 injection, an siRNA drug for the treatment of hypertension, has been accepted in China by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA)’s Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE).

Biotheryx Inc. has gained FDA clearance for its IND application for BTX-9341, a novel cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 (CDK4/6) bifunctional degrader.

The Australian government is investing AU$1.89 billion (US$1.25 billion) in what it is calling a “once-in-a generation transformation” of health and medical research in Australia with $1.4 billion tagged for new research for the Medical Research Future Fund.

The U.S. FDA and industry have been in scramble mode for some time to address the Environmental Protection Agency’s actions on ethylene oxide, but some manufacturers must also deal with other regulators’ perceptions of what constitutes an acceptable method of sterilization.

Mexico’s Federal Commission for Protection Against Sanitary Risk (COFEPRIS) has released a draft proposal that would overhaul the 2008 version of the rule for device labeling, a document that includes several key proposed reforms.

Bioatla Inc. has received FDA clearance of its IND application for BA-3361, a conditionally active biologic (CAB)-Nectin-4 antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) for the treatment of multiple tumor types.