Tofersen’s development is progressing in fits and starts. That was evident at the U.S. FDA’s March 22 meeting of the Peripheral and Central Nervous System Drugs Advisory Committee, which unanimously agreed Biogen Inc.’s failed phase III study predicted a clinical benefit in treating amyotophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) that includes the rare superoxide dismutase 1 component.
Incyte Corp.’s retifanlimab-dlwr received its first regulatory nod on March 22, with the U.S. FDA granting accelerated approval for the PD-1 inhibitor to treat adults with a rare form of skin cancer, advanced Merkel cell carcinoma.
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Abbvie, Athersys, Avadel, FSD, Iecure, Marinus, Mesoblast, Regeneron, Sandoz.
Concerns voiced during January’s U.S. FDA advisory committee meeting failed to deter Cidara Therapeutics Inc. from winning approval by the agency March 22 for once-weekly Rezzayo (rezafungin for injection) to treat a pair of indications – candidemia as well as invasive candidiasis (IC) – in adults with limited or no alternatives.
The U.S. FDA reported yet another recall of intra-aortic balloon pumps made by Datascope Corp., an unfortunate development for patients in need of these devices that are still on the FDA’s list of devices that are in short supply. While no injuries or deaths have been reported in connection with the coiled connector cables that prompted the recall, the need to replace these cables could further crimp units needed to sustain patients during cardiac surgery procedures.
While Moderna Inc. CEO Stéphane Bancel was the one on the hot seat at a March 22 hearing before the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, biopharma profitability in general, and capitalism itself, came under fire as committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) railed about corporate greed in the sector.
Citing significant implications for patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease, as well as the broader public interest that’s at stake, the U.S. FTC filed an amicus brief in Sage Chemical Inc.’s district court challenge of Supernus Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s strategies to block generic competition of its injectable Parkinson’s drug, Apokyn (apomorphine).
As Medtronic plc. is fond of pointing out, the garage inventor has been the stuff of legend in U.S. business lore, providing a wide range of economically impactful inventions over the two-plus centuries since the U.S. patent system came into being.
Edwards Lifesciences Inc., has joined Apple Inc., and several tech companies in suing the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) over PTO’s administration of the inter partes review (IPR) process in a lawsuit that reached the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. The court recently rejected the challenge as to whether the PTO is empowered by the statute to determine whether an IPR could be instituted, but the agency may be forced to engage in the clunky rulemaking process to formally encode the so-called Fintiv standard for acceptance of IPRs.
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