The issue of life science espionage continues to reverberate across the U.S., and a new report by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) suggests that vulnerabilities in the U.S. have not been adequately addressed. The OIG report said that more than two thirds of NIH grantees failed to meet at least one requirement for investigator disclosures about their activities related to foreign entities, including governments, a problem OIG says is in dire need of a fix.
News that the U.S. FTC is finally going to reexamine the role of pharmaceutical benefit managers (PBMs) and their impact on prescription drug prices and availability is playing to applause from several sectors that have been complaining for years about PBM practices.
Global regulatory activity has fallen slightly, partially due to a decline in pandemic activity, and U.S. FDA approvals of drugs and biologics are at their lowest levels in five years.
The U.S. FDA’s accelerated approval path is front burner these days, what with Congress looking to modernize the path through provisions added to the must-pass user fee legislation, the controversy still boiling over the FDA’s accelerated approval last year of Biogen Inc.’s Alzheimer’s drug, Aduhelm (aducanumab), and a number of recent withdrawals of drugs granted accelerated approval years ago.
Given the safety and efficacy data presented June 7 for Novavax Inc.’s COVID-19 vaccine, NVX-CoV2373, it came as no surprise when the U.S. FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biologic Products Advisory Committee voted 21-0, with one abstention, to support an emergency use authorization for the vaccine, which is already approved and being used in many other countries, including the EU and Canada.
Building on years of informal collaboration, the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) said they plan to measure and improve cancer care an equity gap of cancer care around the world.
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Amylyx, Applied, J Ints, Legend.
Drug and device makers are necessarily wary of any activities that could lead to prosecution under the False Claims Act (FCA), but seemingly innocuous activities are now fair game for federal prosecutors. The latest example is the FCA prosecution of Caris Life Sciences for filing claims for cancer tests outside the 14-day post-discharge window, and Mark Gardner, directing attorney at Gardner Law of Stillwater, Minn., told BioWorld that device makers should be on the alert because it appears that federal authorities are ramping up enforcement.
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