Building D&D Pharmatech Inc. has been a rollercoaster ride, according to CEO Seulki Lee. The U.S. and Korea-based biotech is on another ascent, having scored U.S. FDA fast track designation for its metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) drug, ahead of its third attempt at a public listing.
The U.S. FDA proposed in November 2023 to up-classify many wound care products that are associated with antimicrobial resistance, a change that would require a large number of clinical trials and a large volume of new premarket applications for the agency.
China’s Visen Pharmaceuticals (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. is targeting an IPO on the Hong Kong stock exchange with three rare endocrine disease therapies licensed-in from Denmark’s Ascendis Pharma A/S, including U.S. FDA-approved Skytrofa (lonapegsomatropin).
Following the U.S. FDA’s expansion of competing BCMA-targeting CAR T therapy Abecma (idecabtagene vicleucel) to include third-line and later treatment in multiple myeloma (MM) patients, the agency cleared Carvykti (ciltacabtagene autoleucel) from Legend Biotech Corp. and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen unit for use in MM patients as early as second-line treatment. The label, which RBC Capital Markets analyst Leonid Timashev called a “best-case scenario,” includes no notable updates to the black box warning and should help accelerate and expand Carvykti’s update in the U.S., with 2024 revenues expected to top $950 million.
The U.S. FDA announced a class I recall of single-use neurovascular guide catheters made by Medos International Sarl SA of Neuchatel, Switzerland, because of fractures in the device’s distal catheter shaft. The FDA stated that the issue, seen in the company’s Cerebase DA line of guide sheaths, has led Medos to recommend that customers quarantine any of the affected devices, although a root cause has not yet been identified.
Spirair Inc. won the race for the first U.S. FDA 510(k) clearance for a minimally invasive therapy for nasal septal deviation (NSD), the company said. The Septalign system features a bioabsorbable implant that enables minor cartilaginous septal deviation that can be placed in an office with local anesthesia.
“Traditional septoplasty and septorhinoplasty can require significant time away from work, with nearly 42% of patients requiring two weeks or more for recovery. With Septalign, recovery is much faster and requires little to no time away from work for recovery,” Spirair CEO Ben Bishop told BioWorld.
China’s Visen Pharmaceuticals (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. is targeting an IPO on the Hong Kong stock exchange with three rare endocrine disease therapies licensed-in from Denmark’s Ascendis Pharma A/S, including U.S. FDA-approved Skytrofa (lonapegsomatropin).
Mixed opinions from the U.S. FDA’s Oncology Drugs Advisory Committee last month didn’t stop the agency from green-lighting an expanded label for Abecma (idecabtagene vicleucel) to include adults with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (r/r MM) after two or more prior lines of therapy including an immunomodulatory agent, a proteasome inhibitor and an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody.
Some warning letters issued by the U.S. FDA are fairly simple matters, but that statement does not appear to apply to the Oct. 13, 2023, warning letter to Renovo Inc., of Bend, Ore. The warning letter provided a laundry list of sterilized reusable devices the agency said were not properly validated for sterilization, but the company rebutted these allegations in a vigorous defense of its reputation as a reprocessor.
Less than a month after disclosing that its confirmatory phase III trial of Relyvrio (sodium phenylbutyrate plus taurursodiol) fell short of its endpoint, Amylyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. is withdrawing the amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) drug from the market.