BEIJING – Jinan, China-based Qilu Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. has won the first approval for a China-developed biosimilar to Avastin (bevacizumab, Roche Holding AG). Its biosimilar QL-1101, to be sold under the trade name Ankada, has been approved to treat advanced, metastatic or recurrent non-small-cell lung cancer and metastatic colorectal cancer.
In August the FDA was skeptical about Sarepta Therapeutics Inc.’s injectable Vyondys 53 (golodirsen), but that changed swiftly Friday with the agency’s accelerated approval for the Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) follow-on therapy, the first treatment specifically for this subtype.
As expected, Horizon Pharma plc sailed through the meeting of the FDA’s Dermatologic and Ophthalmic Drugs Advisory Committee regarding the BLA for teprotumumab in thyroid eye disease (TED) with few surprises but much discussion.
DUBLIN – The European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use closed out its year’s work with positive opinions on two applications, Novartis AG’s Beovu (brolucizumab) in wet age-related macular degeneration and Merck & Co. Inc.’s Recarbrio for treating gram negative infections in adults.
LONDON – Over the next decade pharmacovigilance will move on from a sole focus on adverse drug reactions (ADRs) to encompass monitoring of the in-market efficacy of medicines, according to Guido Rasi, executive director of EMA.
Hitches for Horizon Pharma plc seem unlikely in the upcoming FDA advisory panel to mull the BLA for teprotumumab in thyroid eye disease (TED), though regulators did take issue with the clinical activity score (CAS) as calculated by the company.
Shares of Equillium Inc. (NASDAQ:EQ) closed at $4.75, up 69 cents, or 17%, after trading as high as $5.25 as Wall Street hailed the FDA’s granting of fast track status to itolizumab – the first clinical-stage anti-CD6 therapy – for the treatment of lupus nephritis (LN).
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