Shares of San Diego-based Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corp. (NASDAQ:ADMP) fell 51% to close Monday at 62 cents after the FDA issued a complete response letter regarding its high-dose naloxone injection candidate, Zimhi, for the treatment of opioid overdose. The agency raised questions about chemistry, manufacturing and controls (CMC), but not the candidate's safety or efficacy, the company said.
The FDA has posted the names of the companies that will take part in the ethylene oxide (EtO) challenge in response to the recent state action against EtO device sterilization sites, but the agency also has opened a pilot program for a streamlined notification process for changes to sterilization that should be faster and leaner than the usual PMA supplement.
On its PDUFA date Thursday, the FDA cleared Xcopri (cenobamate) tablets from South Korea’s SK Biopharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. to treat partial-onset seizures in adults. The drug’s mechanism of action is not fully understood, but it's believed to work through two separate mechanisms: enhancing inhibitory currents through positive modulation of GABA-A receptors and decreasing excitatory currents by inhibiting the persistent sodium current.
Shares of Eyegate Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:EYEG) rose 54.8% to $7.09 Friday on news that its ocular bandage gel (OBG) proved superior to standard of care in healing corneal wounds following photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) surgery. The pivotal top-line data will allow the Waltham, Mass.-based company to submit a de novo application to the FDA for commercialization in the first half of 2020, said CEO Stephen From. If approved, the OBG eye drop would be the first product indicated to repair corneal epithelial defects, as well as the first prescription hyaluronic acid (HA) eye drop in the U.S., creating new competition for widely used bandage contact lenses (BCL).
Recro Pharma Inc. CEO Geraldine Henwood said the firm, in response to its appeal to the FDA on behalf of I.V. meloxicam for moderate to severe postoperative pain, got a “very lengthy letter” agreeing that safety and efficacy were sufficient for approval but “there was a need to negotiate labeling.”
Patient engagement has become more than a buzzword for the FDA and drug and device developers. But for payers, not so much. When valuing new drugs and devices, payers often undervalue or ignore what they may consider convenience updates, giving little to no consideration to the difference a seemingly minor improvement could make to patients debilitated by fatigue, pain, the burden of treatment and the burden of a disease itself.
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