Although the U.S. FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee (VRBPAC) voted unanimously, 12-0, March 1 that the data GSK plc presented was adequate to support the safety of its respiratory syncytial virus vaccine, several panelists cautioned the FDA against viewing the vote as a recommendation to license the vaccine before more data are available.
Abbott Laboratories continues to push its presence in the cardiovascular market with offerings for the left atrial appendage (LAA) closure and transcatheter aortic valve implant (TAVI) markets, both of which generated affirmative data presented at this year’s edition of the annual meeting of Cardiovascular Research Technologies (CRT 2023) in Washington.
Manufacturers of contact lenses may or may not want prescribers to be agnostic as to brand, but the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) contact lens rule requires that prescribers give the prescription to the customer when the eye exam is complete.
Ra Medical Systems Inc. launched a simple device that holds sutures more securely in place for closure of percutaneous wound sites during cardiac electrophysiology, structural heart and vascular surgical procedures.
The SEC and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York charged a former pharmaceutical executive and his cousin Feb. 23 with the insider trading of Eastman Kodak Co. stock prior to a COVID-19 partnership with the U.S. government to support the launch of Kodak Pharmaceuticals.
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to grant cert for a petition filed by Johnson & Johnson on behalf of its Ethicon subsidiary to review a case in California that will cost the company more than $300 million. The outcome highlights the differential hazards of advertising and promotion in various U.S. states, with California state law allowing fines of up to $2,500 for each violation of state law, an amount that can quickly tally into the hundreds of millions.
The U.S. CMS has unveiled a proposed national coverage determination for powered seat elevation systems for Group 3 power wheelchairs, one of the more expensive items in the category of mobility durable medical equipment (DME). However, the agency indicated that it will soon examine coverage of powered seat elevation systems for Group 2 power wheelchairs, the combination of which suggests that manufacturers in the DME space are looking at a market that seems poised to explode.
A cancer therapy test unveiled by Exact Sciences Corp. will be able to provide a complete molecular picture of a patient’s tumor allowing for them to receive the most effective treatment as quickly as possible. Exact’s Oncoextra therapy selection test, recently launched in the U.S., enhances the ability of doctors to characterize and understand solid tumors.
Despite pleas from patient advocacy groups and bipartisan pressure from the U.S. Congress, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) isn’t budging on its national coverage determination for amyloid-targeting monoclonal antibodies approved to treat Alzheimer’s.