SK Bioscience Co. Ltd. of Seongnam-si, South Korea, gained the World Health Organization’s (WHO) prequalification certification for typhoid conjugate vaccine, Skytyphoid (NBP-618), on Feb. 23. Skytyphoid conjugates a polysaccharide of typhoid bacteria, which serves as an antigen, to a diphtheria toxin protein called diphtheria toxoid that acts as a carrier.
Korean neurodegenerative disease-focused Aribio Co. Ltd. gained the U.K.’s regulatory clearance to start the phase III Polaris-AD trial on AR-1001 (mirodenafil), an investigative therapy for early Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency gave notice of acceptance to Seoul, South Korea- and San Diego-based Aribio for the clinical study on Feb. 21 after “confirming a favorable ethical opinion,” Aribio said. AR-1001 is an oral phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor under development to treat early AD.
Less than a month after the U.S. FDA approved Sanofi SA and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s bestseller Dupixent (dupilumab) for treating eosinophilic esophagitis in children ages 1 to 11, the agency has approved Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.’s Eohilia (budesonide oral suspension) for the same indication but for an older group.
Citing national security and intellectual property (IP) concerns, a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers is calling on three federal departments to investigate China’s Wuxi Apptec’s ties, and that of its subsidiary, Wuxi Biologics, to the Chinese Communist Party and the country’s People’s Liberation Army.
The U.S. FDA has accepted for review Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd.’s and Astrazeneca plc’s BLA for datopotamab deruxtecan (dato-dxd) to treat adults with locally advanced or metastatic nonsquamous non-small-cell lung cancer who have received prior systemic therapy.
Seoul-based Genexine Inc. filed a BLA to gain domestic approval of its follow-on biologic for chronic kidney disease (CKD)-induced anemia, Efesa (efepoetin alfa, GX-E4), to South Korean health regulators on Jan. 25.
The biopharma industry lauded the first steps the Australian government has taken to widen access for drugs and devices via reforms to the current health technology assessment process that has remained unchanged for 30 years.
Jilin, China-based Huisheng Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd. gained China NMPA approval for Huiyoujing (proline janagliflozin tablets), its independently developed sodium glucose transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor for type 2 diabetes. The regulatory clearance, announced on Jan. 23, makes janagliflozin the second China-made SGLT2 inhibitor after Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine Co. Ltd.’s henagliflozin (SHR-3824), which was launched domestically in May 2022.
The U.S. FDA has granted Mesoblast Ltd.’s allogeneic cell therapy Revascor (rexlemestrocel-L) rare pediatric disease designation following submission of results from a clinical trial in children with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a potentially life-threatening congenital heart condition.
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