Acting FDA commissioner Janet Woodcock appeared at the annual forum held by the Medical Device Innovation Consortium (MDIC) and noted that real-world evidence (RWE) has tremendous potential in regulatory decision making. However, she cautioned that while “the future is very bright” for RWE, “it’s going to take longer than some of the enthusiasts might have thought” to maximize this source of data in product reviews.
Drug regulators throughout China cracked down last year on companies manufacturing and selling counterfeit and substandard drugs and active pharmaceutical ingredients.
With 10 cases of serious shock and anaphylaxis, including one death, in the month since Seikagaku Corp.’s osteoarthritis drug, Joyclu (diclofenac etalhyaluronate sodium), launched in Japan, the Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA) issued a blue letter to health care professionals and is adding a warning section to the drug’s Japanese label.
Alkermes plc worked its way through a complete response letter (CRL) issued in late 2020 as the FDA has approved Lybalvi (olanzapine and samidorphan) for treating adults with schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder. The once-daily, oral antipsychotic treatment, the company’s first, is for maintenance monotherapy or acute treatment of manic or mixed episodes and as a monotherapy or adjunct to lithium or valproate. The therapy had a June 1 PDUFA date.
Little more than two months after inking a $2 billion-plus commercialization deal with Swiss oncology specialist Helsinn Group around the fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) inhibitor infigratinib, Bridgebio Pharma Inc.'s subsidiary, QED Therapeutics Inc., has won accelerated FDA approval for the therapy, to be marketed as Truseltiq. Approval for the oral medicine covers the treatment of patients with previously treated locally advanced chemotherapy-resistant bile duct cancer (cholangiocarcinoma) harboring an FGFR2 fusion or rearrangement as detected by an FDA-approved test.
Well ahead of the assigned Aug. 16 PDUFA date, Amgen Inc. bagged accelerated clearance from the FDA for Lumakras (sotorasib), the first targeted therapy for adults with KRAS G12C-mutated locally advanced or metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), as determined by an FDA-approved test.
The FDA has granted breakthrough device designation to Micro Interventional Devices Inc. (MID) for its Mia-T percutaneous tricuspid annuloplasty system. The company will enjoy increased communication with the agency and priority review as it pursues regulatory approval.