The term of follow-up in clinical studies is the subject of massive speculation at FDA advisory hearings, but a recent FDA workshop suggests the agency may adjust its expectations, depending on the device. Darrell Brodke, of the University of Utah, said on a recent spinal device workshop that the two-year endpoint in some spinal device studies struck him as somewhat arbitrary, adding that a longer duration of follow-up is necessary to capture some device failures, but that two years is perhaps overly long where some other outcomes measures are concerned.
Shares of Protagonist Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:PTGX) climbed 93.9% on Oct. 11 after the FDA removed a full clinical hold on studies of the rusfertide, the company's investigational treatment for the blood disorders polycythemia vera and hereditary hemochromatosis. Triggered by a finding of malignant skin tumors in mice treated with the drug disclosed on Sept. 17, the FDA's three-weeks-ago hold had pushed Protagonist shares down by as much as 72%.
Cambridge, U.K.-based Astrazeneca plc has new data from its long-acting COVID-19 antibody combination, AZD-7442, which aims to provide longer protection, potentially for up to a year. Latest data show the intramuscularly injected drug achieved a statistically significant reduction in severe COVID-19 or death compared to placebo in non-hospitalized patients with mild to moderate symptomatic disease.
Nearly two years after confronting an initial complete response letter, Enzyvant Therapeutics Inc. has won FDA approval for a unique treatment for children born without a thymus, an ultra-rare condition leaving them deeply disadvantaged in fighting infections. The product, to be marketed as Rethymic, is the first thymus tissue product approved in the U.S.
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Allogene, Amgen, Astrazeneca, Beigene, Chemocentryx, Janssen, Takeda.
Regulatory agencies are starting to catch up on their guidance agendas, including the European Union’s Medical Device Coordination Group (MDCG), which has posted a guidance for risk classification. Rather than provide a list of risk classes for specific device types, the guidance provides a framework by which the manufacturer does its own evaluation of the inherent risk of the device, opening the door to disagreements between the manufacturer and its notified body.
TORONTO – Radialis Medical Inc. has submitted FDA premarket notification for a positron emission tomography system (PET) that targets specific organs for low dose imaging and may be flexible enough to assess many different diseases. The Radialis PET camera is under clinical investigation at Toronto’s University Health Network and Princess Margaret Cancer Center for its ability to assess anomalies in breast cancer.
Allogene Therapeutics Inc. officials took many questions but had few answers during a conference call regarding the FDA’s clinical hold after the report of a chromosomal abnormality in ALLO-501A CAR T cells in a patient treated in the phase I/II Alpha2 study.
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Denali, Minervax, Ortho Regenerative, Recursion, Y-Mabs.
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