The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA)’s Kickstart program has announced receipt of both U.S. orphan drug and rare pediatric disease designations in support of work for congenital myasthenic syndrome caused by choline acetyltransferase (CHAT) gene deficiency. The FDA awarded the orphan drug designation to AVCHAT-01X (AAV serotype 9 human choline acetyltransferase).

Ribox Therapeutics Ltd. has obtained IND clearance from the FDA for the company’s circular RNA therapy, RXRG-001.

Ideaya Biosciences Inc. has announced FDA clearance of an IND application for IDE-275 (GSK-959), a small-molecule inhibitor of Werner helicase (WRN) discovered by Ideaya in collaboration with GSK plc.

If the maximum fair prices the U.S. CMS announced after the first round of drug price negotiations are any indication, advocates of the government price setting may be settling for short-term wins at the cost of long-term, more sustainable price reductions driven by competition.

Medtronic plc added a second U.S. FDA pulsed field ablation (PFA) device approval to its scorecard with the agency’s greenlight for its Affera mapping and ablation system with the Sphere-9 catheter. Affera brings the first radiofrequency/PFA device to the cardiac ablation market and ups the ante in the PFA competition.

The Medical Information Working Group again took up a question regarding U.S. FDA-regulated speech, citing the agency’s new misinformation draft guidance as an example of a piecemeal approach to regulated speech.

The FDA has granted orphan drug designation to Modalis Therapeutics Corp.’s MDL-101, a novel epigenetic editing therapy being developed for the treatment of congenital muscular dystrophy type 1a (LAMA2-CMD), a severe, early-onset muscular dystrophy caused by the absence of the LAMA2 protein.

Remote monitoring for patients with implanted cardiac electrophysiology devices may finally be coming of age in the U.K. thanks to a review of these systems by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.