Looking to shave $65 million from its annual expenditures while streamlining the first stage of its two-level grant review process, the U.S. NIH is proposing to centralize the peer review of all applications for grants, cooperative agreements and R&D contracts within its Center for Scientific Review.

Aim Vaccine Co. Ltd. may become the first company to gain regulatory clearance of a prophylactic iterative serum-free human rabies vaccine. Beijing-based Aim said it is preparing a regulatory submission of its independently developed rabies vaccine based on positive phase III results that showed good safety, immunogenicity and immune persistence.

The U.S. FDA’s latest draft guidance on pulse oximeters drew comment from the International Standards Organization and the International Electrotechnical Commission, which are making the case that in addition to differences in pigmentation, the pulsatility of the tissue in contact with the device is also a factor in device performance.

Medicare beneficiaries in the U.S. diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may soon be covered for positive pressure ventilation in the home per a draft coverage memo from CMS.

Sagimet Biosciences Inc. has obtained IND clearance from the FDA for TVB-3567 (ASC-60), a selective small-molecule fatty acid synthase (FASN) inhibitor set to enter clinical development for the treatment of acne. A first-in-human phase I trial of TVB-3567 in individuals with or without acne is expected to begin this year.

While the U.S. has historically led the global pharmaceutical industry by pursuing both continual innovation and high quality, those strengths could become areas of weakness in times of political uncertainty, according to PA Consulting expert Andy Prinz.

In another real-life episode of “sponsor beware,” the owners of a clinical research facility pleaded guilty March 10 in U.S. district court to fraud charges resulting from their conduct of two clinical trials for potential asthma drugs.

Getting the Ensuring Pathways to Innovative Cures (EPIC) Act through the U.S. Congress to do away with the “pill penalty” in the Medicare drug price negotiations could require an epic effort, given the current politically fueled atmosphere on the Hill. With the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which created the negotiations, considered a signature achievement of the Biden administration, the negotiations have become, for many lawmakers, almost a sacred cow that can’t be touched. If anything, some of them want to expand the negotiations to more drugs and to the commercial market.

Sooma Oy secured U.S. FDA investigational device exemption approval to initiate a pivotal study of its transcranial direct current stimulation medical device in people with major depressive disorder. The study will examine the efficacy of the non-invasive Sooma 2Gen device in improving MDD as an at-home treatment.