More telling than the U.S. FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee’s 4-5 vote May 21 on the overall benefit-risk of Urogen Pharma Inc.’s UGN-102 (mitomycin) is that the panel’s urology specialists and the patient representative all voted yes, saying the drug would be an important alternative to what is often a continuing cycle of surgery for patients with recurrent low-grade intermediate-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer.
Five years after the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the world, the U.S. FDA is moving away from annual routine boosters for all children and adults. Instead of that one-size-fits-all regulatory framework by which it has granted broad COVID-19 vaccine marketing authorization for all Americans older than 6 months, the agency said it’s adopting a policy akin to that followed in Europe, which now restricts the vaccines to older adults and those at high risk for severe disease.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) put biopharma companies on notice May 20: It’s time to commit to reducing prescription drug prices to reflect most-favored-nation (MFN) pricing in accordance with President Donald Trump’s May 12 executive order. HHS said it expects manufacturers to commit to aligning their U.S. prices for all brand products across all markets that don’t currently have generic or biosimilar competition with the lowest price of a set of economic peer countries.
With a PDUFA date less than four weeks away, Urogen Pharma Inc. has been having a rough ride on the Street since the U.S. FDA released a joint briefing document for the May 21 Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee meeting on UGN-102 (mitomycin).
Recognizing the potential legal challenges to U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive order calling for most-favored-nation (MFN) prescription drug pricing and the limits of that order, several congressional Democrats introduced a bill in both the House and Senate May 14 that could make MFN pricing the law of the land and extend it to both government health programs and private insurance.
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.
As the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and its agencies begin weeding out old regulations, the department is requesting public input to help identify and eliminate outdated or unnecessary regulations.
In a continuing déjà vu, the Senate Judiciary Committee held yet another hearing May 13 on pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), focusing on a lack of transparency.
After a week of hype, the most-favored nation (MFN) drug pricing executive order (EO) U.S. President Donald Trump signed May 12 has a lot of bark but little bite, as one analyst put it. Brian Abrahams, head of global healthcare research at RBC Capital Markets LLC, said the EO is unlikely to rattle the biopharma sector, even though it lacked the certainty to completely remove the MFN overhang. “We see reason for relief and, alongside improving FDA clarity and limited tariff risk, expect biopharma to be viewed as increasingly investable,” Abrahams said.
Planting seed money and “wishing” is not enough to claim “irreparable harm” to secure a preliminary injunction or to establish the standing required to appeal a patent board decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled May 7 in two decisions involving Incyte Corp. and Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.
