As GSK plc pulls Blenrep (belantamab mafodotin) from the U.S. market, the biotech giant will watch a lot of revenue go with it. Only two weeks ago a phase III confirmatory study data for the already-approved multiple myeloma drug fell short of meeting requirements for the U.S. FDA’s accelerated approval regulations, so the agency asked GSK to take the drug off the market.
Sema4 Holdings Corp., Illumina Inc. and Pear Therapeutics Inc. joined a growing list of med-tech companies responding to what Pear CEO Corey McCann called a “challenging macroenvironment” by spinning off, selling or shuttering non-core lines of business and slimming payroll.
Provention Bio Inc. scored approval from the U.S. FDA of the BLA for Tzield (teplizumab-mzwv), an intravenously given, anti-CD3-directed antibody, as the first and only immunomodulatory treatment to delay the onset of stage 3 type 1 diabetes (T1D) in adult and pediatric patients ages 8 and older with stage 2 T1D.
With a 9-4 vote, the U.S. FDA’s Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee bucked FDA reviewers who delayed PDUFA dates, issued a complete response letter and two formal dispute resolution requests for Ardelyx Inc.’s tenapanor as a hyperphosphatemia therapy for adults on dialysis with chronic kidney disease (CKD).
The U.S. FDA has given the green light to Aeye Health Inc. for its autonomous diagnostic screening system for diabetic retinopathy. The Aeye Diagnostic Screening (Aeye-DS) uses artificial intelligence (AI) to diagnose the eye condition from retinal images captured by a fundus, or retinal, camera.
Cybersecurity has become one of the core concerns for med tech in this part of the 21st Century, and a collaboration between the FDA and the Mitre Corp., has yielded a new playbook that calls for a regional response to issues such as ransomware. However, this new document calls on medical device manufacturers to take part in cybersecurity exercises along with health care delivery organizations, an exercise that some manufacturers might not be prepared to undertake.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued a bulletin in connection with the Venus ransomware, the latest in a running series of such malware to hit computer systems across the globe.
Acotec Scientific Holdings Ltd. obtained marketing approval from the U.S. FDA for its peripheral support catheter Vericor, designed to enhance access to peripheral vessels.
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.