During a conference call after the U.S. FDA approval of Zusduri (mitomycin), Urogen Pharma Ltd. CEO Liz Barrett offered candid observations about a “roller-coaster ride” sparked by a mixed-outcome advisory panel meeting held May 21. Zusduri is designed to treat recurrent low-grade, intermediate-risk, non-muscle invasive bladder cancer.
And then there were eight. That is, eight members of the U.S. CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices (ACIP).Two days after dismissing the 17 members of the committee, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy named eight new members to the panel. Eight is the minimum required for a quorum, which will be necessary for the June 25-27 ACIP meeting.
Slightly ahead of the assigned June 23 PDUFA date, Nuvation Bio Inc. scored the U.S. FDA’s go-ahead for Ibtrozi (taletrectinib) to treat adults with locally advanced or metastatic ROS1-positive non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
The U.K. government has doubled the rate that pharmaceutical companies must repay on sales of branded drugs, under the statutory rebate scheme, to a record 31.3%. Only 1-2% of total sales of branded drugs fall under the statutory scheme, but the increase is seen as a sign that an ongoing review of the voluntary scheme is not going well.
When it comes to the U.S. biopharma market, pricing seems to be the driving focus of most congressional conversations – and government contracts. Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Ore., hit pause on that conversation at a June 11 House subcommittee hearing on the drug supply chain, when he asked if the U.S. is sacrificing security for price.
Despite the June 9 gutting of the U.S. CDC’s Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, the Department of Health and Human Services said the committee’s June 25-27 meeting will continue as scheduled. But a new panel has yet to be named, and typically ACIP members have a lot of behind-the-scenes work to do before a meeting.
With the U.S. FDA’s approval of Enflonsia (clesrovimab) to prevent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection lower respiratory tract disease in newborns and infants, Merck & Co. Inc. steps into a space of competition and regulatory shifts. The preventive, long-acting monoclonal antibody (MAb)
will take its place in the market alongside the blockbuster Beyfortus (nirsevimab) from Sanofi SA and Astrazeneca plc. The MAb for pediatric use brought in about $1.77 billion in 2024.
Absent extraordinary circumstances, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board “should never cancel claims it has not determined to be unpatentable as a sanction” for misconduct during a board proceeding, according to the acting director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
The U.K. Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has issued its first official guidance on how to develop bacteriophages as licensed medicinal products. This covers personalized phage therapies designed for specific patients – at present the only form in which they are available – but also is relevant to the development of off-the-shelf products for treating common infections.
Corestemchemon Inc. is planning to file a BLA for Neuronata-R (lenzumestrocel) by the end of 2025 to gain accelerated approval from the U.S. FDA, company officials confirmed to BioWorld during a June 2 interview. Neuronata-R is an autologous bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell therapy that first gained approval in South Korea in 2014 to delay the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive neurodegenerative disorder also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
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