U.S. FDA commissioner Marty Makary appeared at the May 22 Senate Appropriations Committee with the news the White House proposed an FDA budget for fiscal 2026 of $6.8 billion including user fees. This is a cut of 11.5% that will not likely go over well on Capitol Hill as the FY 2026 budget process unwinds.

The U.K. Medicines and Health Care Products Regulatory Agency posted a draft guidance on the use of real-world evidence to serve as a control arm for clinical trials.

The recent emphasis on eliminating animal studies for preclinical studies of U.S. FDA-regulated products amplifies a long-standing concern, but the U.S. Government Accountability Office raised the question of whether organ-on-a-chip methods are ready to fill the gap.

Innovative Health LLC, of Scottsdale, Ariz., obtained a jury verdict of $147 million against Johnson & Johnson’s Biosense Webster unit for practices that thwarted the use of less costly reprocessed medical devices.

The U.S. Department of Justice said the CEO of Spinefrontier Inc., Kingsley Chin, entered a guilty plea in connection with allegations that he made false statements about payments made to surgeons for consulting work the physicians did not perform.

The U.S. FDA’s decision to phase out animal testing for INDs is driving a new market of alternative, nonanimal testing technologies like organoids and organs-on-a-chip, speakers at Bio Korea 2025 said.

Fujirebio Diagnostics Inc.’s Alzheimer’s disease assay received the U.S. FDA’s first clearance for a blood test for the debilitating neurodegenerative disease. Fujirebio’s Lumipulse G pTau217/ß-Amyloid 1-42 plasma ratio is indicated for the early detection of amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease in symptomatic individuals aged 55 years and older.

The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reported a request for information for a modernized digital health ecosystem that would presumably improve beneficiary access to digital health technologies.

Companies new to the world of U.S. FDA regulation are often unaware of how detailed the agency’s inspections are, which might be the case with the October-November 2024 inspection of Noah Medical Inc.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy made his first appearance May 14 before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee since his January confirmation hearing. Chaos, testy arguments, accusations and surprising agreements ensued.