The U.K.’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommendation that leadless cardiac pacemakers be used as the standard of care for people with slow heart rhythms (bradyarrhythmias) is a boon for more than 2 million individuals living with the condition. The use of the technology will transform patients’ quality of life, reduce rates of infections and lower costs for the health care system.
The U.S. FDA’s expectations that its new default position of basing marketing authorization of novel drugs on one adequate, well-controlled trial may be overstated. In explaining the policy in a recent article in TheNew England Journal of Medicine, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and CBER Director Vinay Prasad said they expect the initiative will create a “surge in drug development,” substantially reduce development costs and will speed drugs to market. While the initiative could reduce the time to the U.S. market, those expectations don’t take into consideration global norms and payer expectations.
Gubra A/S has announced the submission in Germany of a clinical trial application (CTA) for a first-in-human study of GUB-UCN2, the company’s lead asset for weight loss. The planned phase I/IIa trial will enroll both healthy volunteers and individuals with obesity, with and without related co-morbidities. GUB-UCN2 is expected to enter clinical development in the first half of this year.
U.S. scrutiny of China’s trade practices, especially in the biotech sector, continues to escalate as the U.S. International Trade Commission launches two factfinding investigations Congress mandated in the fiscal 2026 appropriations.
Eli Lilly and Co. got a breather when the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed that the company doesn’t owe Research Corporation Technologies Inc. (RCT) royalties on its diabetes drugs under a licensing agreement Lilly had made with Phillips Petroleum Co. in 1990 and that Phillips later sold to RCT.
China’s National Medical Products Administration has accepted for review Jiuyuan Genetic Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s drug application for Jikeqin, a biosimilar product to Novo Nordisk A/S’s Wegovy (semaglutide) for obesity.
The U.S. FDA approved Allurion Technologies Inc.’s premarket application for its swallowable gastric balloon system, which features its Smart Capsule, for weight loss. The clearance is boon for the company as GLP-1 agonists gets increasingly adopted to treat obesity. The approval also brings to the market a new non-invasive option to patients looking for alternative ways to lose weight.
CF Pharmtech Inc. has announced approval from China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) of an IND application filed by subsidiary Changfeng Suyue Pharmaceutical (Guangzhou) Co. Ltd. for ICF-004.
Kivu Bioscience Inc. has announced receipt of Human Research Ethics Committee approval and clinical trial notification clearance in Australia to initiate a first-in-human trial of KIVU-305, its CEACAM5-targeted antibody-drug conjugate.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy is facing a second lawsuit challenging his replacement of all the members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and seeking to undo the CDC’s Jan. 5 revision of its childhood immunization schedule.
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