Ardelyx Inc. could have a rocky row to hoe when it makes its case for tenapanor, as a hyperphosphatemia therapy in adults with chronic kidney disease, before the U.S. FDA’s Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee Nov. 16. The big question facing the adcom is whether the change in baseline serum phosphorous levels achieved by the drug is clinically meaningful. Clearly, FDA reviewers don’t think so, as that question already has resulted in delayed PDUFA dates, a complete response letter and two formal dispute resolution requests.
The U.S. FDA has wrapped up its guidance effort to deal with counterfeit devices, an effort that consumed roughly 11 months. That span of time had little discernible effect on the draft, however, as the final guidance seems to leave the draft’s explanation that future FDA guidances may refer to more than one section of the statute in references to the definition of a device.
Acting on its new promise to restore “rigorous enforcement” of the U.S. ban on unfair methods of competition, the FTC filed an amicus brief Nov. 10 supporting Avadel CNS Pharmaceuticals LLC’s motion to delist a Jazz Pharmaceuticals Inc. patent from the FDA’s Orange Book.
Viatris Inc.’s chief information officer, Ramkumar Rayapureddy, is facing an SEC insider trading complaint, along with criminal charges brought by the fraud division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Another man, Brian Wong, was charged with illegal trading ahead of Merck & Co. Inc.’s acquisition of Pandion Therapeutics Inc.
In addition to the Medicare inflation rebate and the other pricing reforms of the Inflation Reduction Act, manufacturers of certain Part B drugs will be subject to a refund provision tucked away in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that was signed into U.S. law last year.
The U.S. FDA hit a Phoenix-based Abraxis Biosciences LLC facility with a warning letter citing out-of-control aseptic manufacturing processes for Abraxane (paclitaxel), a key chemotherapy drug. The letter, posted Nov. 8, noted that multiple media fill failures occurred last year during simulated aseptic processing operations on the Abraxane filling line.
The U.S. FDA recently convened an advisory committee to address accuracy issues with pulse oximetry devices, with a significant focus on skin pigmentation as a source of noise in the results generated by these class II devices. However, a number of other factors, including obesity and finger size/diameter, also cloud the values generated by pulse oximeters, all of which combine into a large set of variables that premarket studies may have to address before the FDA will issue new marketing authorizations.
Election day has come and gone in the U.S., but the question of which party will control Congress remains unanswered, signaling that the country is as divided as ever politically and ideologically. While Democrats and Republicans may agree on problems in the life sciences sector, they often disagree on how to address them.
Veru Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s COVID-19 therapy VERU-111 (sabizabulin) failed to win full support from the U.S. FDA’s Pulmonary-Allergy Drugs Advisory Committee, which was asked to decide about endorsing the firm’s request for an emergency use authorization to market the drug.
Europe is losing its innovative edge in biopharma, especially when it comes to advanced therapy medicinal products, including tissue, gene and cell therapies used to prevent, treat and cure rare conditions and some cancers.
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