As the July 23 PDUFA date nears for GSK plc’s Blenrep (belantamab mafodotin), the U.S. FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee will decide July 17 on whether available data justify the return to market of the antibody-drug conjugate as a therapy for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, and briefing documents made public ahead of the meeting laid out the issues.

The U.S. FDA recently posted three alerts under the agency’s early alert program, including an alert for the V6 and V8 versions of the Sigma Spectrum infusion pumps by Baxter International Inc., which was the result of a mix-up in software installation.

Manufacturing issues are the latest problem for Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc. to solve after last week’s disappointment in a phase III study to treat brittle bones. The U.S. FDA gave the company a complete response letter (CRL) regarding the BLA for its gene therapy to treat Sanfilippo syndrome type A, saying it needs more details and improvements made about CMC after having finished manufacturing facility inspections.

Cochlear Ltd. heard good news from the U.S. FDA, as the agency approved its next-generation cochlear implant, the Nucleus Nexa System, the first smart cochlear implant system. Cochlear expects to launch the new products in the U.S. in the next few months, Brendan Murray, vice president for Cochlear Implant products portfolio and strategy told BioWorld.

Shanghai Circode Biomed Co. Ltd. is set to begin clinical trials of HM-2002, a circular RNA (circRNA)-based drug for ischemic heart disease, having gained IND clearance in China Jan. 10 and the U.S. on May 30, Circode CEO Chenxiang Tang recently told BioWorld.

Capricor Therapeutics Inc. received a complete response letter (CRL) from the U.S. FDA on the BLA for deramiocel to treat cardiomyopathy in Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients. The company’s CEO said the letter was unexpected.

It’s been more than seven years in coming, but the U.S. FDA is at last making public at least some of the complete response letters (CRLs) it’s sent to drug and biologic sponsors to notify them of deficiencies in their approval applications.

The U.S. FDA has granted orphan drug designation to Klotho Neurosciences Inc.’s secreted-Klotho (s-KL) promoter, gene and delivery system (KLTO-202 or s-KL-AAV.myo) for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

The next FDA device user fee agreement is formally in negotiations but a recent agency report shows device makers are increasingly keen to interact with FDA reviewers. This is a fact that may make it difficult to keep the next user fee schedule from increasing dramatically over the current agreement.

The U.S. FDA noted in a series of Federal Register declarations that several device makers are working with the Patent and Trademark Office to claim regulatory review times for their devices, including the Sapien 3 Ultra Resilia device by Edwards Lifesciences Corp.