The first three quarters of 2023 delivered a mix of approval news, with an uptick in U.S. FDA clearances over the previous year, but still tracking lower than 2017-2021. Global approvals are on a different trajectory, down year over year.
Pfizer Inc. entered into a conciliation agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs to resolve alleged compensation discrimination affecting female employees at its New York headquarters.
In a historic first, the European Commission (EC) sanctioned a pharmaceutical cartel focused on controlling an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) in the European Economic Area.
As COVID-19 vaccine development continues, the U.S. FDA is releasing a revised version of its 2020 guidance, “Development and licensure of vaccines to prevent COVID-19.”
Fake versions of Novo Nordisk A/S’ 1-mg Ozempic prefilled pens are sounding alarms in Europe amid an ongoing shortage of the company’s semaglutide products resulting from demand in the weight-management space.
A week before the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is scheduled to vote on the confirmation of Monica Bertagnolli as the next NIH director, she faced a grilling by the committee fueled by drug pricing agendas and deals the Biden administration made with certain lawmakers to advance her nomination.
“Finally!” Piper Sandler analysts cheered in a research note on Ardelyx Inc., which after spending three years battling the U.S. FDA, secured approval of Xphozah (tenapanor) for treating hyperphosphatemia in adults with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The company will waste no time getting to market, aiming to have the NHE3 inhibitor available to patients next month, marking the first new treatment class for hyperphosphatemia in 30 years.
To resolve a U.S. SEC insider trading charge related to Pfizer Inc.’s $11.4 billion acquisition of Array Biopharma Inc. in 2019, Brian Rubin consented Oct. 17 to a judgment ordering him to disgorge $90,458, plus prejudgment interest of $16,914, and to pay a civil penalty to be determined by the court.
With an FDA approval decision on treosulfan possibly more than a year off, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted Medac GmbH a third one-year extension of its method-of-use patent covering the drug, which is being developed as a conditioning agent in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
The vagaries of the COVID-19 market and the uncertainties of pandemic fatigue are hitting some biopharma companies in the pocketbook, at least for now. Due to lower-than-expected revenues from its COVID-19 Comirnaty vaccine and antiviral Paxlovid (nirmatrelvir/ritonavir), Pfizer Inc. reduced its 2023 revenue guidance by $9 billion after hours Oct. 13, saying it now anticipates full-year 2023 revenues to range from $58 billion to $61 billion – down from its previous guidance range of $67 billion to $70 billion.