DUBLIN – In a busy week at the EMA, its Committee on Human Medicinal Products (CHMP) nodded through eight marketing applications at its June meeting. The haul included a chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T) therapy, three antibodies, including a biosimilar, and two new small-molecule drugs, as well as two generics.
A new regulatory agreement could give Indonesia greater access to newer drugs and Chinese companies greater market share in Southeast Asia’s largest market.
PERTH, Australia – Australia will be phasing out the Astrazeneca COVID-19 vaccine by October and will rely on Pfizer Inc./Biontech SE and Moderna Inc. vaccines to ramp up lagging vaccination rates.
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Alnylam, Aquestive, Astrazeneca, Biogen Eli Lilly, Eisai, Huyabio, In3bio, Merck, Pieris, Roche, Santen, Vectivbio.
TORONTO – Health Canada has proposed a single regulatory framework for medical device and drug clinical trials after broad industry consultation and a hard line drawn by the COVID-19 pandemic for a more streamlined system.
Accelerated approval based on a phase II single-arm trial doesn’t appear to be in the cards for Incyte Corp.’s retifanlimab as a second-line treatment for advanced or metastatic squamous cell anal cancer (SCAC). Following the lead of FDA reviewers June 24, the agency’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee (ODAC) voted 13-4 to recommend that the agency defer its approval decision until more data are available from POD1UM-303, a confirmatory trial in platinum-naïve advanced SCAC.
New FDA breakthrough therapy designations awarded for two investigational Alzheimer's disease (AD) candidates, Eli Lilly and Co.'s donanemab and the Bioarctic AB-Eisai Co. Ltd.-developed asset lecanemab (BAN-2401) underline ongoing willingness at the U.S. regulator to invest deeper attention in the potential of amyloid plaque reduction to slow progress of the disease, a critical and costly challenge estimated to affect more than 6 million Americans.
Poxel SA and Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma Co. Ltd. said their first-in-class drug, Twymeeg (imeglimin hydrochloride), won its first approval in Japan, where it could change the treatment regimen for type 2 diabetes.
PERTH, Australia – Starpharma Holdings Ltd. is pausing sales of its antiviral nasal spray, Viraleze (SPL-7013), in the U.K. after its retail partner, Lloydspharmacy, received a letter from the U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) related to promotional claims made about the antiviral with respect to SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19.