TORONTO – Puzzle Medical Devices Inc. has been granted a U.S. FDA breakthrough device designation for a transcatheter heart pump designed for fragile patients with few minimally invasive options for treating advanced heart failure.
PERTH, Australia – About seven years ago, Australia’s George Institute for Global Health conducted a study to find out how many people require dialysis for end-stage kidney failure compared to how many people receive treatment.
The Washington Legal Foundation’s (WLF) webinar on False Claims Act (FCA) litigation highlighted several developments in case law, including that non-relator FCA cases were up significantly in fiscal year 2020. However, Jay Stephens, an attorney with Kirkland & Ellis LLP, noted that Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has taken aim yet again at the materiality standard for false claims as spelled out in the Supreme Court’s Escobar, a move which if successful could amplify the federal enforcement focus on life science companies.
The latest global regulatory news, changes and updates affecting medical devices and technologies, including: White House names pick for CMS administrator’s post; FDA posts advisory for pulse oximetry; CDC: Telehealth visits dropped over last half of 2020; CRS says user fee shares of total review costs on the rise; Federal Circuit kicks case back to PTAB.
Pfizer Inc. and Biontech SE submitted new data to the FDA showing its COVID-19 vaccine’s stability can be maintained at temperatures often found in pharmaceutical freezers and refrigerators: -13°F to 5°F (-25°C to -15°C). That’s cold but not nearly as cold as the mRNA-based vaccine’s emergency use authorization label calls for, which is storage in an ultra-cold freezer at temps of between -112 to -76 degrees Fahrenheit (-80 and -60 degrees Celsius).
HONG KONG – Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd. picked up the greater China rights to Scynexis Inc.’s lead candidate, ibrexafungerp. Under the terms, Hansoh will take charge of the development, regulatory approval and commercialization of the antifungal in the region in exchange for a $10 million up- front payment and as much as $112 million in development and commercial milestones, plus low double-digit royalties on net product sales.
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Dr. Reddy’s, Dynavax, Immunicum, Immunocore, Incyte, Janssen-Cilag, Junshi, RDIF, Travere.
If the SARS-CoV-2 virus has achieved anything useful in the world of in vitro diagnostics, it’s that the associated pandemic has shone a bright and unsparing light on the respective merits of diagnostic and surveillance testing. Harvard University’s Michael Mina, an assistant professor of epidemiology, was one of several academic researchers who took up the gauntlet yet again in opposition to what they characterized as a gross misunderstanding of the respective roles of these types of tests, a misunderstanding they said must be addressed if the pandemic is to be corralled.