South Korea’s Ministry of Food and Drug Safety approved Moderna Inc.’s Spikevax LP.8.1 vaccine as an updated shot for COVID-19 targeting the LP.8.1 variant, according to Moderna Korea’s announcement Sept. 1. The regulatory clearance comes days after the U.S. FDA accepted, on Aug. 27, Moderna’s supplemental BLAs for two of its COVID-19 vaccines, Spikevax and Mnexspike.

Edwards Lifesciences Corp. execs no doubt danced a little jig on the release of the latest European Society of Cardiology/European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery guidelines for valvular heart disease. The update established a simplified pathway for severe aortic stenosis (AS) that eliminated the previous divide between symptomatic and asymptomatic severe AS.

The Korea Pharmaceutical Traders Association said Aug. 26 that it signed a strategic agreement with Korea Trade Insurance Corp. to support South Korean companies exporting biopharmaceutical materials overseas.

Two days after the ouster of Susan Monarez as CDC director on Aug. 27, HHS confirmed to BioWorld that James O’Neill is serving as acting director. O’Neill was previously Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services. He has also served as the CEO of the SENS Research Foundation, which merged with Lifespan.io in 2024. The resulting Lifespan Research Institute describes itself as “focused on the defeat of age-related disease and the extension of healthy human lifespan” on its website.

The FDA has granted orphan drug designation to Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s VGT-1849B, a selective peptide nucleic acid-based JAK2 inhibitor for the treatment of polycythemia vera (PV).

Three milestones expected to bring the reality of U.S. prescription drug price negotiations into focus are hovering on the horizon. First, the CMS is scheduled to publish its maximum fair prices (MFPs) for the round 2 selected drugs by Nov. 30. Then, on Jan. 1, the MFPs for the first round kick in, affecting not only the 10 selected drugs, but a dozen approved biosimilars referencing the three biologics in that round, 94 generics either approved or tentatively approved that reference the small molecules on the list, and perhaps other innovator drugs in the same therapeutic spaces. And by Feb. 1, CMS must publish the list of up to 15 drugs selected for negotiations for the 2028 price year. That list will be the first to include Part B drugs.

Medtronic plc received U.S. FDA approval for the expanded redo TAVR indication of the Evolut transcatheter aortic valve replacement system. The approval allows for valve-in-valve implantation of a new Evolut valve inside a failed previously implanted TAV made by any manufacturer in patients with severe aortic stenosis considered high-risk for open-heart surgery.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported Aug. 27 that Susan Monarez no longer occupies the post of director for the CDC, a development that arose within hours of the FDA’s approval of two COVID-19 vaccines with historically restrictive labeled indications.

Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. received an FDA complete response letter (CRL) a day after the Aug. 27 PDUFA date for its BLA for radiopharmaceutical renal cancer imaging agent, Zircaix (TLX250-CDx, 89Zr-DFO-girentuximab).