A quartet of companies on May 2 announced three complete response letters (CRLs) that left them scrambling to get back on the path to approval. Hutchmed Ltd.'s surufatinib met with word from the U.S. FDA that two positive phase III studies in China and a bridging study in the U.S. would not support approval of the drug for pancreatic and extra-pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. A multi-regional clinical trial in the U.S. is needed, the regulator said, brushing aside China-only studies when seeking a U.S. approval.

Orphalan SA is laying the ground for a 2023 U.S. launch of Cuvrior for the treatment of Wilson’s disease, following FDA approval of the copper chelating drug. Cuvrior (trientine tetrahydrochloride) is a new salt of trientine that was designed to have superior properties to Syprine (trientine hydrochloride) from Bausch Health Companies Inc. and Cufence from Univar Solutions BV, which are approved as second-line treatments for the rare inherited copper transport disorder, in the U.S. and EU respectively.

The latest in a spate of draft and final guidances released recently by the U.S. FDA could help sponsors developing drugs to treat early stage solid tumor malignancies. 

The U.S. FDA has granted premarket approval for Transmedics Group Inc.’s OCS heart system for use with organs from donors after circulatory death (DCD). The approval expands on a prior FDA approval of the device for use with organs from donors after brain death in September 2021. Andover, Mass.-based Transmedics said its system can now be used for ex vivo reanimation, functional monitoring, and beating-heart preservation of donation-after-circulatory-death hearts.

Bristol Myers Squibb Co.’s audacious $13.1 billion 2020 takeover of Myokardia Inc. appears to have paid off with U.S. FDA approval of the drug at the heart of the deal, mavacamten. The medicine, a cardiac myosin inhibitor for treating adults with obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), will be marketed under the brand name Camzyos.

In his second stint as U.S. FDA commissioner, Robert Califf discussed the challenges in leading a massive agency that has seen seven commissioners come and go over the past 10 years.

Yes, getting FDA 510(k) clearance for your medical device is something to cheer about. But consider Arterys Inc. It just reported its eighth FDA clearance, this time for a next generation, deep learning cardiac analytics platform. The Cardio AI’s purpose, Arterys CEO John Axerio-Cilies told BioWorld, is to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning for analysis of cardiac MRI images that is faster, more accurate and repeatable than ultrasound and other imaging modalities.

In the second of two hearings before the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on the next iteration of the FDA drug and device user fee agreements, the focus was supposed to be on advancing regulation and innovation. But Ranking Member Richard Burr (R-N.C.) shifted the spotlight April 26 to accountability in his opening remarks and subsequent questioning.