Eli Lilly and Co., through its Loxo@Lilly oncology unit, secured its second accelerated approval for non-covalent Bruton’s tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor Jaypirca (pirtobrutinib), this time to treat adults with chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma. The U.S. FDA approval of 100-mg and 50-mg tablets is for patients who have received two prior lines of therapy, including another BTK inhibitor and a BCL-2 inhibitor. It is based on phase I/II data from a subset of 108 patients participating in the open-label, single-arm, multi-cohort Bruin trial.
Redhill Biopharma Ltd.’s stock (NASDAQ:RDHL) has soared in recent days following news that the U.S. FDA granted five years of market exclusivity for Talicia, a first-line therapy for eradication of Helicobacter pylori infection, which affects about 35% of the U.S. adult population.
The U.S. FDA put out a safety warning Nov. 28 that antiseizure drugs levetiracetam and clobazam can cause a rare but serious hypersensitivity drug reaction that may start as a rash but can progress to injure internal organs. In addition, U.K. health care providers are being told to get a plan in place now to implement the first phase of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s new regulatory measures to reduce the risks of valproate, a treatment for epilepsy and bipolar disorder.
In a global first, Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has approved CSL Ltd.’s and Arcturus Therapeutics Inc.’s self-amplifying messenger RNA (sa-mRNA) vaccine (ARCT-154) for COVID-19 in adults. The approval marks the first milestone for a November 2022 licensing deal under which CSL subsidiary CSL Seqirus in-licensed Arcturus’ late-stage sa-mRNA vaccine platform technology.
Reports of T-cell malignancies, including lymphoma, have the U.S. FDA investigating the risks for patients who received certain autologous CAR T-cell immunotherapies.
As expected, Aldeyra Therapeutics Inc. received a complete response letter (CRL) from the U.S. FDA regarding its NDA for reproxalap in dry eye disease, with the agency requiring “at least one” additional study to prove efficacy of the reactive aldehyde species, or RASP, modulator.
With drug shortages becoming a fact of life, U.S. President Joe Biden said he plans to issue a presidential determination to broaden the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) authorities under the Defense Production Act to enable investment in the domestic manufacturing of essential medicines, medical countermeasures and other critical inputs that the president deems essential to the national defense.
Springworks Therapeutics Inc.’s nirogacestat became the first drug indicated specifically for desmoid tumors, as well as the first gamma-secretase inhibitor to win marketing approval, winning a U.S. FDA nod on the anticipated PDUFA date of Nov. 27. Branded Ogsiveo, nirogacestat has breakthrough therapy, fast track and orphan designations.
With U.S. drug prices a perennial issue, several lawmakers, both Democrats and Republicans, are increasingly looking beyond biopharma to identify other “persons of interest” that may be complicit in the high list prices facing American patients.
Polaris Pharmaceuticals Inc. has submitted the first part of its rolling BLA to the FDA for lead product, ADI-PEG 20, for systemic treatment of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma with non-epithelioid histology in combination with a platinum agent and pemetrexed. The BLA is supported by the pivotal phase III Atomic study in which pegargiminase (pegylated arginine deiminase/ADI-PEG 20) met the primary endpoint of a statistically significant improvement in overall survival and the secondary endpoint of a significant improvement in progression-free survival in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma.