With the number of high-priced cell and gene therapies expected to grow dramatically over the next decade, U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) is asking for input from patients, doctors, manufacturers, payers and policy wonks on how to pay for the treatments and ensure patient access when they become more mainstream across the ultra-rare disease spectrum.
The U.S. FDA has approved Novartis AG’s Fabhalta (iptacopan) as the first oral monotherapy for adults with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, a rare blood disease that impairs blood cell production. This is the only factor B inhibitor of the immune system’s complement pathway and is expected to be on the market before December ends. Fabhalta has plenty of competition from already-approved therapies and more treatments are in development.
China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) approved Zhejiang Jingxin Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s dimdazenil (EVT-201) for short-term treatment of insomnia. Jingxin filed the NDA in China in April 2022.
Eli Lilly and Co., through its Loxo@Lilly oncology unit, secured its second accelerated approval for non-covalent Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor Jaypirca (pirtobrutinib), this time to treat adults with chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma. The U.S. FDA approval of 100-mg and 50-mg tablets is for patients who have received two prior lines of therapy, including another BTK inhibitor and a BCL-2 inhibitor. It is based on phase I/II data from a subset of 108 patients participating in the open-label, single-arm, multi-cohort Bruin trial.
Redhill Biopharma Ltd.’s stock (NASDAQ:RDHL) has soared in recent days following news that the U.S. FDA granted five years of market exclusivity for Talicia, a first-line therapy for eradication of Helicobacter pylori infection, which affects about 35% of the U.S. adult population.
The U.S. FDA put out a safety warning Nov. 28 that antiseizure drugs levetiracetam and clobazam can cause a rare but serious hypersensitivity drug reaction that may start as a rash but can progress to injure internal organs. In addition, U.K. health care providers are being told to get a plan in place now to implement the first phase of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s new regulatory measures to reduce the risks of valproate, a treatment for epilepsy and bipolar disorder.
In a global first, Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has approved CSL Ltd.’s and Arcturus Therapeutics Inc.’s self-amplifying messenger RNA (sa-mRNA) vaccine (ARCT-154) for COVID-19 in adults. The approval marks the first milestone for a November 2022 licensing deal under which CSL subsidiary CSL Seqirus in-licensed Arcturus’ late-stage sa-mRNA vaccine platform technology.
Reports of T-cell malignancies, including lymphoma, have the U.S. FDA investigating the risks for patients who received certain autologous CAR T-cell immunotherapies.
As expected, Aldeyra Therapeutics Inc. received a complete response letter (CRL) from the U.S. FDA regarding its NDA for reproxalap in dry eye disease, with the agency requiring “at least one” additional study to prove efficacy of the reactive aldehyde species, or RASP, modulator.
With drug shortages becoming a fact of life, U.S. President Joe Biden said he plans to issue a presidential determination to broaden the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) authorities under the Defense Production Act to enable investment in the domestic manufacturing of essential medicines, medical countermeasures and other critical inputs that the president deems essential to the national defense.
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