Alpha Biopharma Ltd. submitted an NDA in China for zorifertinib, a next-generation EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI) to treat advanced EGFR-mutated non-small-cell lung cancer with central nervous system metastases. Zorifertinib is the first EGFR-TKI to be tested in a clinical study for this patient population, according to the company.
The U.S. FDA granted breakthrough therapy designation to Abbisko Therapeutics Co. Ltd.’s pimicotinib for patients with tenosynovial giant cell tumors who are not able to have surgery.
China’s NMPA granted conditional approvals to two COVID-19 drugs under a special examination and approval procedure aimed at addressing urgent needs. The approvals are both for oral small-molecule drugs for adult patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 infections. One of the approved drugs is Simcere Pharmaceutical Group Ltd.’s Xiannuoxin (simnotrelvir/ritonavir). The other is Shanghai Junshi Biosciences Co. Ltd.’s VV-116 (deuremidevir hydrobromide).
China’s National Medical Products Administration is grappling with how to regulate drugs that are sold online as it issued new provisions under the country’s Drug Administration Law that allows prescription drugs to be sold online for the first time.
Citing efforts to “encourage innovation,” China’s National Healthcare Security Administration included 111 new drugs in its National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL). The adjustment, shared Jan. 18, 2023, also removed three drugs, leaving the latest NRDL with a total of 2,967 drugs. Most of the newly added drugs are recently approved drugs, with many making it to the market in the last five years. Twenty-three were approved in 2022.
The Australian government has begun its closely watched independent review of the health technology assessment (HTA) process in the country, and it delivered a first peek at what it will consider. This independent review of the HTA system is the first of its kind in nearly 30 years.
The U.S. FDA has lifted the clinical hold on Astellas Pharma Inc.’s Fortis phase I/II trial evaluating AAV gene replacement therapy AT-845 in adults with late-onset Pompe disease.
India’s drug regulatory system is under the lens again after the World Health Organization’s (WHO) latest medical product alert on two substandard cough syrups manufactured in the country.
Proposed mergers with Chinese companies will likely be subject to increased scrutiny from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) as evidenced by the temporary hold placed on the merger between F-star Therapeutics Ltd. and Sino Biopharmaceutical Ltd.’s Invox Pharma Ltd. that was announced in June 2022.
China's National Healthcare Security Administration will not be adding Pfizer Inc.'s COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid to its list of medicines covered by basic medical insurance schemes in the country, due to its high prices.