The other shoe dropped on the U.S. CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP) when at least nine liaison organizations were informed by email late July 31 that they would no longer be involved in ACIP’s process of reviewing scientific evidence and informing vaccine recommendations.
While inflation in the U.S. is hovering below 3%, increases in some FDA user fees for fiscal 2026 are tripling that rate. PDUFA fees for branded prescription drugs and biological products will see a 9% hike come Oct. 1, and the increase in MDUFA fees will more than double the inflation rate with a 7% hike across the board.
Mabwell (Shanghai) Bioscience Co. Ltd. announced that its Cadherin-17 (CDH17)-targeting antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), 7MW-4911, has received IND clearance to initiate clinical trials from both the U.S. FDA and China's National Medical Products Administration (NMPA).
The U.S. Department of Justice announced July 31 that Illumina Inc. agreed to pay $9.8 million to settle allegations it sold genomic sequencing equipment that suffered from cybersecurity problems. The settlement concludes a qui tam lawsuit filed by a former employee and highlights the hazards of poor cybersecurity for med-tech firms.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. disclosed within a positive second-quarter earnings report that it had received a complete response letter (CRL) two days earlier from the U.S. FDA for its bispecific antibody, odronextamab, for relapsed/refractory follicular lymphoma following two or more lines of systemic therapy.
With the U.S. FDA’s approval of Lenz Therapeutics Inc.’s Vizz (aceclidine ophthalmic solution), there is a third eye drop on the market for treating presbyopia. Vizz, however, is the first aceclidine-based eye drop for adults.
President Donald Trump sent letters July 31 to the CEOs of 17 major drug manufacturers doing business in the U.S., giving them 60 days to comply with his May 12 executive order (EO) on most-favored-nation (MFN) pricing. The EO appealed to drug companies to undertake MFN pricing voluntarily to end the freeloading in which other developed countries pay, on average, three times less than Americans are charged for the same medicines.
The U.S. FDA has cleared Actio Biosciences Inc.’s IND application and granted fast track designation to ABS-1230, an expected first-in-class, orally administered small-molecule KCNT1 inhibitor, for the treatment of KCNT1-related epilepsy.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced a $14.6 million grant it received for an upgrade of its IT infrastructure. The same grant mechanism is leveraged by the Department of Justice, which is a clear sign that U.S. enforcement will be more vigorously enabled by sophisticated analytics going forward.
The news that Vinay Prasad has stepped down as CBER director at the U.S. FDA had some biotech stocks literally jumping in joy as the market opened July 30. Meanwhile, Prasad’s decisions regarding vaccine development, as well as actions by Makary and HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy, are coming under fire.
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