As of May 21, the U.S. SEC’s “no-deny” settlement policy is dead. For the past 50 years, the agency has required settling defendants to sign an agreement stating that they neither admit nor deny the SEC’s allegations. And beyond that, the standard settlement prohibits, under threat of court action, the defendants from ever denying the allegations publicly. According to an SEC notice to be published in the May 21 Federal Register, the agency has reconsidered the issue and is now rescinding the no-deny rule.
The short story of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s May 19 opinion in Recor Medical Inc. v. Medtronic Ireland is that the lower court got it wrong when it ruled Medtronic lacked the required standing to bring an infringement countersuit against Recor because it had granted an exclusive license for products covered by the two asserted patents. The case was reversed and remanded.
The evolution of cancer diagnostics continues with the FDA’s May 20 approval of Guardant Health Inc.’s Guardant360 Liquid cDx. The new blood-based comprehensive genomic test assesses a 100-times wider genomic footprint than the previously approved Guardant360 cDx to deliver comprehensive tumor profiling results, according to the company. It noted that the seven companion diagnostic indications already approved for the older test will transfer to the new one.
Matter Bio has submitted its first IND application to the FDA for Lm-LLO-TT, the company’s lead therapeutic candidate, seeking to initiate a first-in-human phase I/IIa trial in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).
Mekanistic Therapeutics Inc. has obtained IND clearance from the FDA for MTX-531, the company’s lead oncology candidate. A phase I study will be conducted in patients with advanced solid tumors characterized by dysregulated EGFR and/or PI3K signaling, including head and neck and endometrial cancers. Dosing is expected to begin in the third quarter.
In a move aimed at incentivizing companies to go and stay public, the U.S. SEC proposed two rulemakings May 19 as a foundation to the agency’s Make IPOs Great Again agenda.
Of all the issues that could be on the table at the talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and China President Xi Jinping, the life sciences sector is the “sweet spot” for collaboration between the two countries in a way that would benefit the world, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said in a Brookings Institution webinar in advance of the two-day summit that starts May 14.
Eli Lilly and Co. lost its bid to have the U.S. Supreme Court strike down the whistleblower provisions in the False Claims Act (FCA) as unconstitutional.
It’s back to the drawing board for the U.S. CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). After a year of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy gutting the panel and restocking it mostly with people who share his views on vaccines, the CDC published a notice in the May 19 Federal Register saying it’s withdrawing the amended ACIP charter renewal issued April 6 and is instead “re-establishing” the committee.
China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has granted clinical trial clearance to SYH-2095 tablets, a novel lysine acetyltransferase 6 (KAT6) inhibitor codeveloped by CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. and Hangzhou Innogate Pharma Co. Ltd. for the treatment of advanced malignant tumors. SYH-2095 received IND clearance in the U.S. last month.