Calliditas Therapeutics AB’s full approval from the U.S. FDA for Tarpeyo (budesonide) delayed release capsules in immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) revived speculation about competitor Travere Therapeutics Inc. which, like Calliditas, has gained accelerated approval for its prospect.
Given the challenges of generating chemistry, manufacturing and control information on the compressed timelines used in the EMA’s Priority Medicines scheme and the U.S. FDA’s breakthrough therapy designation program, the two regulators published a joint question-and-answer document discussing quality and good manufacturing practice aspects of applications for both programs, which are aimed at speeding development of innovative products to address unmet medical needs.
In an effort to standardize prescription practices across Canada, help Canadians afford their medicines and improve access to health data, the government is investing an additional $89.5 million over the next five years to establish the Canadian Drug Agency.
In 2023, Japan has faced mounting criticism from the pharma industry for its annual price reductions. Ahead of the G7 summit hosted in Japan in May 2023, a delegation of 24 CEOs from the Biopharmaceutical CEO Roundtable met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to discuss global priorities and to flag concerns over drug pricing policies in Japan. Meanwhile, in 2023, China agreed to add 126 drugs to its National Reimbursement Drug List, in a negotiation process that has become more transparent and predictable than ever before. South Korea faces drug pricing reform, while Australia’s government has started an overhaul of its health technology assessment process.
The data package for Filsuvez (birch triterpenes), a topical gel aimed at treating partial thickness wounds, satisfied U.S. reviewers the second time around. Chiesi Group said the FDA approved the treatment Dec. 19 for use in patients 6 months and older with rare blistering skin diseases junctional epidermolysis bullosa and dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa.
With the use of artificial intelligence (AI) increasing in both biopharma R&D and the regulatory science used to evaluate new drug candidates in member states, the EMA and Heads of Medicines Agencies have laid out a five-year workplan to ensure that the European medicines regulatory network remains at the forefront in benefiting from AI in medicines regulation.
Chinese patients will soon have wider access to newly approved cancer drugs following the publication of the 2024 National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL) that added 126 new drugs to the list. Price cuts to drugs averaged 61.7%. The additions and cuts are in line with the previous year.
Shares of Checkpoint Therapeutics Inc. dropped 44.8% Dec. 18 on news that the U.S. FDA issued a complete response letter (CRL), delaying potential approval of PD-L1 antibody cosibelimab in metastatic or locally advanced cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma. The FDA had accepted in March the BLA, seeking use for treating patients who are not candidates for curative surgery or radiation, setting a Jan. 3, 2024, PDUFA date.
Both the U.K. MHRA and the U.S. FDA approved their first CRISPR-based gene therapy in 2023. Crispr Therapeutics AG and partner Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s Casgevy (exagamglogene autotemcel, exa-cel) was approved by the MHRA in November and the FDA on Dec. 8. The U.K. approval is for both severe sickle cell disease (SCD) and transfusion-dependent thalassemia (TDT). In the U.S., the approval is for severe SCD, with a PDUFA date for TDT coming up in spring 2024.
Following the recommendation of its Oncology Drugs Advisory Committee, the U.S. FDA approved U.S. Worldmeds LLC’s eflornithine 192-mg tablets for use as a maintenance therapy in patients with high-risk neuroblastoma. Branded Iwilfin, the specific, irreversible inhibitor of ornithine decarboxylase previously known as DFMO, is expected to be available in the coming weeks.
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