As generic versions of its blockbuster drug Ofev (nintedanib) start to hit the market, Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH looks to have swerved the patent cliff, with European and Japanese regulators both approving a potential replacement, Jascayd (nerandomilast), this week. At its monthly meeting, the EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use also recommended Novartis AG’s Vijoice (alpelisib) be given conditional approval in the treatment of PIK3CA-related overgrowth spectrum disorders.

In further fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, the EU has now reached agreement on the Critical Medicines Act, which aims to boost European manufacturing capacity for drugs and their active ingredients, and enable member states to organize joint procurement to improve access to orphan drugs.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has launched a pilot program to fast track breakthrough medical devices in the EU and get lifesaving technologies to patients sooner. The program will allow for companies to obtain scientific advice from the expert panels intended to support evidence generation and clinical development of their devices.

Four months after receiving a complete response letter from the U.S. FDA for tolebrutinib to treat non-relapsing secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, Sanofi SA received a positive opinion recommending approval in the EU.

Roche Holding AG is making good on its promise to try and convince the EMA of the benefits of Elevidys (delandistrogene moxeparvovec), announcing a further global phase III trial of the Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy.

The EMA has given initial endorsement to a new approach to early toxicity testing in which live animals will be replaced by virtual counterparts. The virtual control groups will be derived from data generated in animals that have been used as controls in previous studies. The historical database has been brought together in an EU-funded project to which 20 pharma and crop sciences companies contributed. While limited in scope, this is the first time the EMA has formally endorsed the use of a new approach methodology (NAM) to generate data that could eventually be included in an application for marketing approval.

Once again, Amgen Inc.’s Tavneos (avacopan) is under U.S. FDA scrutiny, as the agency alerted patients and doctors March 31 about 76 cases of drug-induced liver injury, including eight deaths, with “reasonable evidence of a causal association” with the drug.

Cbio A/S has received European regulatory clearance to begin a first-in-human trial of novoleucel, the company’s next-generation T-cell therapy, in late-stage cervical cancer. The phase I/IIa study will enroll patients with persistent or recurrent cervical cancer at Karolinska University Hospital.