The U.S. FDA issued Cytokinetics Inc. a complete response letter (CRL) for omecamtiv mecarbil, branding the clinical evidence behind it as not “persuasive” enough to establish its effectiveness for reducing the risk of heart failure events and cardiovascular death. The company is developing the drug as an add-on therapy for patients with worsening heart failure who remain at high risk for heart failure events and hospitalization.
After a long and bumpy road to approval, Reata Pharmaceuticals Inc. is to roll out the first treatment for Friedreich’s ataxia in the U.S. for patients ages 16 and older after the FDA gave its anti-inflammatory drug, Skyclarys (omaveloxolone), the green light.
Shares of Reata Pharmaceuticals Inc. tanked unexpectedly Feb. 27, a day before the U.S. FDA is set to make a decision on the NDA seeking approval of once-daily Nrf2 activator omaveloxolone for Friedreich’s ataxia, on reports that Billy Dunn, the director of the FDA’s Office of Neuroscience, was stepping down from his position.
Safety likely will be top of mind when the U.S. FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biologic Products Advisory Committee meets Feb. 28 and March 1 to advise the agency on two respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccines proposed for use in adults who are at least 60 years old.
The U.S. FDA marked the 40th anniversary of the Orphan Drug Act with Rare Disease Day 2023 as Robert Califf, the agency’s commissioner of food and drugs, opened the day by expressing his wonder and accompanying concern regarding gene editing and gene therapy.
While the FDA has yet to take a stance on whether risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (REMS) patents can be listed in its Orange Book, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit weighed in Feb. 24 with a decisive “no” when those patents only claim a system.
The U.S. FDA has approved the priority BLA for Sanofi SA’s hemophilia A treatment nearly a week before its Feb. 28 PDUFA date. The approval is for efanesoctocog alfa, a recombinant factor VIII (rFVIII) therapy – the company has managed to partially incorporate rFVIII into the drug’s brand name, Altuviiio. The price per dose was not released by the company.
Despite pleas from patient advocacy groups and bipartisan pressure from the U.S. Congress, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) isn’t budging on its national coverage determination for amyloid-targeting monoclonal antibodies approved to treat Alzheimer’s.
After a delay in November that resulted in a new PDUFA date, Apellis Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s Syfovre (pegcetacoplan injection) received U.S. FDA approval for treating geographic atrophy (GA) secondary to age-related macular degeneration. While this is the first and only FDA-approved treatment for GA, there is competition afoot from Belite Bio Inc. and Iveric Bio Inc. The intravitreal targeted C3 therapy’s Feb. 17 approval of the priority NDA came more than a week ahead of its Feb. 26 PDUFA.
San Diego-based Travere Therapeutics Inc. gained U.S. FDA accelerated approval for its dual endothelin angiotensin receptor antagonist, Filspari (sparsentan), to reduce proteinuria in adults with primary IgA nephropathy, or Berger’s disease.
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