As 2025 gets underway, a new European Commission will start work on its new five-year mandate, with plans for multiple pieces of legislation that have implications for biotech and pharma – and the life sciences industry more broadly – due to be put forward.
The EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use recommended 17 drugs for approval at its December meeting, bringing the total for 2024 to 114. That is up from the 77 drugs recommended for approval in 2023, of which 39 were novel.
The conditional marketing approval for Ocaliva (obeticholic acid) has been revoked with immediate effect, following a standoff between the EMA and Advanz Pharma Ltd., the company that markets the primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) therapy in Europe. On Sept. 5, London-based Advanz won a short reprieve after challenging the EMA’s June 28 ruling that the marketing authorization for Ocaliva should be revoked, when the General Court of the EU granted a temporary suspension of EMA’s decision. However, on Nov. 27, Advanz announced the court had said it would not be extending the suspension.
The EMA has changed its mind about an earlier decision that the risks of Leqembi (lecanemab) outweigh the benefits and is now recommending the Alzheimer’s disease drug is approved for a subgroup of patients. That follows an appeal by Eisai Co. Ltd. and a re-examination of the data, after details relating to 274 patients with two copies of the ApoE4 gene were removed from the file.
Hyperfine Inc. gained CE mark approval for the latest generation of its artificial intelligence-powered software for its Swoop portable magnetic resonance imaging system, under the European Medical Device Regulation.
The EU’s still-new regulations for medical devices and in vitro diagnostics are often seen as drivers of current or impending shortages of these products, but Oliver Eikenberg of regulatory consultancy Pure Global is unimpressed by such claims. Eikenberg said much of the drag on the EU system is engendered by device makers that are failing to get their regulatory affairs in order – a problem neither Brussels nor the notified bodies can fix.
Just ahead of the EMA setting out its latest thinking on regulation in the new era of artificial intelligence (AI), the industry has put forward its position on how to ensure AI rules enable, rather than hinder, the drug development and approval process.
Shares of Tharimmune Inc. shot up more than 100% in early trading Oct. 30 as the firm disclosed regulatory backing to launch a phase II trial this quarter testing TH-104, a transdermal buccal film version of nalmefene, to treat pruritus that is associated with primary biliary cholangitis.
Astellas Pharma Inc. has withdrawn its marketing authorization application from the EMA for its avacincaptad pegol intravitreal solution for the treatment of geographic atrophy secondary to age-related macular degeneration. “The company's decision to withdraw its application followed interactions” with the EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, an Astellas spokesperson told BioWorld.
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