Anixa Biosciences Inc. and the Moffitt Cancer Center now have details the FDA said it needs regarding their CAR T therapy development program. The collaborators said the information can be provided to the FDA in about 30 days. The agency then has 30 days to respond.
Motus GI Holdings Inc. received FDA 510(k) clearance to use its Pure-Vu system in upper gastrointestinal endoscopies, expanding the system’s indications from use only in colonoscopies. Pure-Vu removes blood, blood clots and debris from the GI tract, allowing endoscopists to see sources of bleeding and other issues while leaving the endoscope's working channel available for other uses.
With the next user fee agreement negotiations underway, device makers are not keen on a substantial hike in fee volumes. Nonetheless, Jeff Shuren, director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, has proposed a total product life cycle (TPLC) advisory function for the next user fee agreement, something he said would bring more predictability to industry and allow the agency to interact much more routinely with device makers.
The FDA’s breakthrough devices program encodes a number of policy objectives for the agency, but industry might see the program principally as a vector for faster time to market. However, Janice Hogan, partner at Hogan Lovells US LLP, said device makers might want to consider that the greater benefit is reducing regulatory uncertainty, not beating the typical FDA review clock.
There’s been a change of plans. Following a preliminary review of briefing materials for a type C meeting, the FDA told Reata Pharmaceuticals Inc. that a pre-NDA meeting is instead the next best step in the development of omaveloxolone (RT-408) for treating Friedreich’s ataxia (FA).
The FDA’s legal authority to regulate lab-developed tests (LDTs) has come into question on several occasions in a number of venues, and the issue is enjoying new life yet again thanks to more activity on Capitol Hill. While two competing pieces of legislation are back in play, the most critical question may be whether the FDA has any authority left at all after the August 2020 rescission letter from the Department of Health and Human Services.
In a rare move, the FDA disclosed summary trial information May 17 about Cytodyn Inc.’s Vyrologix (leronlimab), noting that currently available data don’t support the clinical benefit of the drug as a COVID-19 treatment.
Now that Apellis Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s Empaveli pegcetacoplan has won FDA approval as the first targeted C3 therapy for treating paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), the cost of treating the rare blood disorder is hefty.
To accelerate drug development targeting the pandemic, the FDA issued final guidance May 17 on master protocols for drugs intended to prevent or treat COVID-19 infections. Although the guidance is geared toward developing COVID-19 drugs, the FDA said it expects master protocols to continue to play an important role in addressing the public health needs in future pandemics.
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