DUBLIN – In a busy week at the EMA, its Committee on Human Medicinal Products (CHMP) nodded through eight marketing applications at its June meeting. The haul included a chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) therapy, three antibodies, including a biosimilar, and two new small-molecule drugs, as well as two generics.
A new regulatory agreement could give Indonesia greater access to newer drugs and Chinese companies greater market share in Southeast Asia’s largest market.
PERTH, Australia – Australia will be phasing out the Astrazeneca COVID-19 vaccine by October and will rely on Pfizer Inc./Biontech SE and Moderna Inc. vaccines to ramp up lagging vaccination rates.
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Alnylam, Aquestive, Astrazeneca, Biogen Eli Lilly, Eisai, Huyabio, In3bio, Merck, Pieris, Roche, Santen, Vectivbio.
The FDA’s device center recently updated its guidance for testing and labeling of devices for compatibility with magnetic resonance (MR) fields. Some items, such as orthopedic plates and screws, might not have been evaluated for compatibility up to now. The FDA’s Sunder Rajan said that existing 510(k) and PMA devices are grandfathered in under the legacy policy, but that all implants will have to be evaluated for MRI compatibility going forward, even devices not previously subject to testing.
TORONTO – Health Canada has proposed a single regulatory framework for medical device and drug clinical trials after broad industry consultation and a hard line drawn by the COVID-19 pandemic for a more streamlined system.
Regulatory snapshots, including global submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Diabetomics, Oticon Medical, Otolith Labs, Sorrento Therapeutics.
Accelerated approval based on a phase II single-arm trial doesn’t appear to be in the cards for Incyte Corp.’s retifanlimab as a second-line treatment for advanced or metastatic squamous cell anal cancer (SCAC). Following the lead of FDA reviewers June 24, the agency’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) voted 13-4 to recommend that the agency defer its approval decision until more data are available from POD1UM-303, a confirmatory trial in platinum-naïve advanced SCAC.
New FDA breakthrough therapy designations awarded for two investigational Alzheimer's disease (AD) candidates, Eli Lilly and Co.'s donanemab and the Bioarctic AB-Eisai Co. Ltd.-developed asset lecanemab (BAN-2401) underline ongoing willingness at the U.S. regulator to invest deeper attention in the potential of amyloid plaque reduction to slow progress of the disease, a critical and costly challenge estimated to affect more than 6 million Americans.
Poxel SA and Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co. Ltd. said their first-in-class drug, Twymeeg (imeglimin hydrochloride), won its first approval in Japan, where it could change the treatment regimen for type 2 diabetes.