As the SARS-CoV-2 virus that’s responsible for COVID-19 continues to evolve across the world, a global response, similar to what’s used with influenza, would be ideal in evaluating and recommending vaccine strain composition changes from year to year. But “the current diversity of vaccine manufacturers and complexities in global supply of COVID-19 vaccines would make a globally coordinated, simultaneous vaccine composition evaluation and recommendation quite challenging,” the U.S. FDA said in its briefing document for the Jan. 26
meeting of the Vaccine and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee.
Long before the U.S. Congress approved a path for importing prescription drugs from Canada to take advantage of their cheaper price, Poornanand Palaparty, an oncologist in Ohio, purchased cancer drugs from a Canadian distributor from 2004 to 2009. Now, nearly a decade after Palaparty pleaded guilty in 2013 to introducing misbranded drugs into the U.S., the FDA is debarring the doctor based on that federal misdemeanor.
Albeit with complaints and provisos, the U.S. FDA’s Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee (ADAC) rubber-stamped Cidara Therapeutics Inc.’s rezafungin, an injectable treatment for candidemia and invasive candidiasis (IC) in adults. Panelists were asked to vote on a single question: “Is the overall benefit-risk assessment favorable for the use of rezafungin for treatment of candidemia/IC in adults with limited or no alternative treatment options?” The balloting turned out 14 yes, one no.
Neurogene Inc. has received FDA clearance of its IND application for NGN-401 for the treatment of Rett syndrome. The company plans to initiate a phase I/II trial in female pediatric patients with Rett syndrome this year.
As the FDA has in the past when a court issued an opinion it didn’t agree with, the U.S. agency is trying to limit the fallout from an appellate court ruling in Catalyst Pharmaceuticals Inc. vs. Becerra, which involved the breadth of orphan drug exclusivity, to that case alone.
The U.S. FDA has lifted the clinical hold on Astellas Pharma Inc.’s Fortis phase I/II trial evaluating adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene replacement therapy AT-845 in adults with late-onset Pompe disease.
The U.S. FDA granted accelerated approval to Seagen Inc. on Jan. 19 for Tukysa (tucatinib), extending the therapy’s reach beyond HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer, and clearing its way for RAS wild-type, HER2-positive unresectable or metastatic colorectal cancer.
Next week, Cidara Therapeutics Inc. will make its case for rezafungin, an injectable treatment for candidemia and invasive candidiasis in adults, before the U.S. FDA’s Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee. When it convenes Jan. 24, the adcom will vote either yes or no if it believes the overall benefit-risk assessment is favorable for the use of rezafungin for treating candidemia/invasive candidiasis in adults with limited or no alternative treatment options.
Eli Lilly and Co.’s complete response letter (CRL) from the U.S. FDA relating to accelerated approval of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) candidate donanemab set off a round of speculation regarding not only what the move might mean for the pharma giant but also for others in the embattled therapeutic space and beyond. The answer, if you believe analysts: not much.
Mirati Therapeutics Inc. has received FDA clearance of its IND application for MRTX-1133, a potent, oral small-molecule inhibitor of the KRAS G12D driver mutation.
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