Another biopharma consultant got on the wrong side of the U.S. SEC for insider trading. To resolve the allegations, Hugh Lee Sweeney, a longtime consultant for Catabasis Pharmaceutical Inc., agreed to a cease-and-desist order, disgorgement of $57,931 and prejudgment interest of $2,499.71, and civil penalties of $57,931.

Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Adverum, Annovis, Bausch + Lomb, Clovis, Diamedica, Innocare, Pfizer, Xortx.

A few weeks ago, the odds of the deeply divided U.S. Congress passing drug pricing reforms that would allow direct Medicare negotiation seemed pretty slim. But those odds improved significantly July 6 when Senate Democrats reached a compromise on their version of the pricing provisions included in the Build Back Better bill, H.R. 5376, passed by the House last November.

Three serious adverse events have led the U.S. FDA to place a clinical hold on Diamedica Therapeutics Inc.’s phase II/III study of DM-199, a synthetic form of human tissue kallikrein-1 for treating acute ischemic stroke. The blood pressure in three participants dropped to a significantly low level shortly after receiving an I.V. dose of the therapy. All three bounced back to normal within minutes of stopping the I.V.

Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Ascletis, Biogen, Chinook, Coherus, Junshi, Inflarx, Kazia, Olix, Pyramid, Roche, Sensorion, Takeda,  Titan, Turnstone.

While the U.S. Congress struggles to patch together statutory restraints on prescription drug prices, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), with the FDA’s help, is taking steps to cut back the patent thickets some drug companies are using to ward off the competition that would bring those prices down.

Patent subject matter eligibility under Section 101 of the Patent Act has proven controversial for patents in the U.S. thanks in no small part to Supreme Court jurisprudence in cases such as Alice v. CLS Bank and Mayo v. Prometheus. In the latest development, the court has declined to hear the American Axle case, leaving many observers despairing of any chance of restoring a decent patent system for personalized medicine, companion diagnostics and even the use of artificial intelligence in drug development.

Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Amylyx, Aneurotech, Dyne, Hyloris, Novavax, Pfizer, Sanofi, Xbrane.

The U.S. FDA is hailing two revised draft guidances it released July 5 as “critical steps” toward implementing the electronic drug tracing requirements of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act.

Curevac NV has filed a patent lawsuit against fellow German mRNA pioneer Biontech SE claiming that the latter firm’s COVID-19 vaccine, Comirnaty, infringes its intellectual property.