A proposed rule to implement the five-year-old Medicaid Services Investment and Accountability Act would expand the U.S. Health and Human Services’ (HHS) permissive exclusion authority to biopharma manufacturers that misclassify outpatient drugs supplied under agreements with federal health care programs.
The U.S. FDA said it is investigating the risk of hematologic malignancies associated with Bluebird Bio Inc.’s Skysona (elivaldogene autotemcel), approved in 2022 as a one-time gene therapy for treating early active cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy in boys, ages 4 to 17.
Sichuan Kelun-Biotech Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd. won local approval of the first China-made trophoblast cell-surface antigen 2 (TROP2)-targeted antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), sacituzumab tirumotecan, as a third-line therapy for advanced breast cancer.
Following a late-cycle review meeting with the U.S. FDA in September and the agency’s decision to skip the advisory committee meeting, expectations were high heading toward the PDUFA date for Applied Therapeutics Inc.’s priority NDA for govorestat in galactosemia. So the complete response letter issued by the FDA just ahead of the Nov. 28 PDUFA date, citing deficiencies in the clinical application, caught nearly everyone off guard.
The U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ordered Lorik Papyan, who pleaded guilty three years ago to one count of unlicensed wholesale distribution of prescription drugs, to pay Gilead Sciences Inc. nearly $32 million in restitution to cover lost profits due to a counterfeit HIV drug scheme he was involved in.
The U.K.’s leading bioethics body is calling for a new law to regulate the generation of stem cell-derived human embryo models and ensure that research does not cross ethical red lines. Currently, there is no statute governing the oversight of these models. In particular, bioethicists say there should be a statutory ban on the transfer of embryo models into the reproductive tract of humans and animals, with legal penalties for contraventions.
Arovella Therapeutics Ltd. is heading toward the clinic with its lead product, ALA-101, which consists of a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) targeting CD19 and invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells.
The conditional marketing approval for Ocaliva (obeticholic acid) has been revoked with immediate effect, following a standoff between the EMA and Advanz Pharma Ltd., the company that markets the primary biliary cholangitis (PBC) therapy in Europe. On Sept. 5, London-based Advanz won a short reprieve after challenging the EMA’s June 28 ruling that the marketing authorization for Ocaliva should be revoked, when the General Court of the EU granted a temporary suspension of EMA’s decision. However, on Nov. 27, Advanz announced the court had said it would not be extending the suspension.
When U.S. CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure announced Nov. 26 that the agency is “reinterpreting” the law in proposing a rule allowing Medicare and Medicaid to cover obesity drugs beginning in 2026, she called it a “historic step.” The rule, if finalized, could make obesity drugs like Novo Nordisk A/S’ Wegovy (semaglutide) and Eli Lilly and Co.’s Zepbound (tirzepatide) available to millions more Americans and further invigorate development of other obesity drugs. But given the lateness of the day in the Biden administration, the proposal may be more symbolic than historic.
With the U.S. FDA approval of Attruby (acoramidis) for transthyretin amyloidosis with cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM), Bridgebio Pharma Inc. is taking on an industry giant. The next-generation, oral, small-molecule stabilizer of transthyretin will take on Pfizer Inc.’s Vyndamax (tafamidis, Vyndaqel), a TTR stabilizer approved in 2019 for ATTR-CM but expected to lose exclusivity in late 2028. The approval was based on a phase III study that showed Attruby significantly reduced death and cardiovascular-related hospitalizations. The NDA, which had a Nov. 29 PDUFA date, was approved Nov. 22.
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