South Korea may soon gain its first domestically developed anthrax vaccine by GC Biopharma Corp., with the Korean biotech having filed Nov. 1 with the MFDS for approval of its novel recombinant protein anthrax vaccine called GC-1109.
A year-and-a-half after Eli Lilly and Co.’s Mounjaro (tirzepatide) gained U.S. FDA approval for adults with type 2 diabetes, the GLP-1 and GIP dual agonist was cleared for chronic weight management in adults who are obese or overweight and who also have one related condition.
Instead of the two-step process that’s been the typical path for interchangeables in the U.S., Amgen Inc.’s Wezlana got a green light Oct. 31 from the FDA as both the first approved biosimilar and interchangeable to Johnson & Johnson’s inflammatory disease drug, Stelara (ustekinumab).
Phathom Pharmaceuticals Inc. will begin marketing Voquezna (vonoprazan) in December, thanks to the Nov. 1 approval by U.S. regulators, who cleared the potassium-competitive acid blocker at 10-mg and 20-mg doses for all grades of erosive gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), maintenance of healing of all grades of the condition and relief of associated heartburn.
As a follow-up to the Biden administration’s executive order for artificial intelligence (AI), the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has promulgated a memorandum directing federal government agency use of AI.
Had it been asked to, the FDA’s Cellular, Tissue and Gene Therapies Advisory Committee would have voted Oct. 31 to recommend approval of Vertex Pharmaceutical Inc. and Crispr Therapeutics AG’s exagamglogene autotemcel, or exa-cel, as a one-time transformative treatment for severe sickle cell disease in individuals 12 and older.
Patients living with aggressive nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) now have a new treatment option with the U.S. FDA approval of Junshi Biosciences Co. Ltd./Coherus Biosciences Inc.’s PD-1 inhibitor antibody Loqtorzi (toripalimab), which will likely become the new standard of care for NPC.
It’s just a discussion next week of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Crispr Therapeutics AG’s sickle cell disease (SCD) therapy, with no vote expected from the U.S. FDA’s Cellular, Tissue and Gene Therapies Advisory Committee. The FDA isn’t questioning the drug’s efficacy as much as it is concerned about the effects of off-target editing.