Sanofi SA and Astrazeneca plc had a lot to celebrate July 17 when the FDA approved Beyfortus (nirsevimab) ahead of schedule, making it the first respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) prophylactic for infants in the U.S. “This is just really an historic day,” Michael Greenberg, a Sanofi vice president and medical head of the company’s North America vaccines unit, told BioWorld. The companies had been expecting the FDA decision later this quarter. The earlier approval suggests the FDA appreciated the urgency of having time for health systems and doctors to get the drug ahead of the next RSV season, Greenberg said.
GC Biopharma Corp., formerly Green Cross Corp., said July 17 that it refiled the BLA for its intravenous immune globulin agent Alyglo (GC-5107B; IVIG-SN 10%) to the U.S. FDA – nearly a year and a half after the regulator’s initial rejection.
Regulatory snapshots, including global submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Neuronetics.
The False Claims Act (FCA) has generated billions of dollars in fines each year in the U.S., and Atlanta-based Nextgen Healthcare Inc., is the latest to find itself on the wrong end of a whistleblower lawsuit based on the FCA. The U.S. Department of Justice reported that Nextgen will hand over $31 million to settle allegations that the vendor of electronic health records (EHR) not only misrepresented the capabilities of its software, but also paid kickbacks to physician providers to use its software, a pair of violations that have dinged the company’s finances and its reputation.
The U.S. CMS has released the draft Medicare physician fee schedule for calendar year 2024, inviting rebuttal from physician groups thanks to a proposed cut in rates of 1.25%. However, the draft’s proposed cut of roughly 2% for radiation oncology services has also provoked stakeholders who blasted the proposal as a detriment to cancer care, a particularly ironic move given the emphasis on the Biden administration’s Cancer Moonshot.
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Astellas, Cel-Sci, Emmaus, Gilead, Scisparc.
Viiv Healthcare Group’s long-acting therapies to treat human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), including cabotegravir as an oral tablet and as an injectable, have been approved by China’s NMPA, expanding the company’s presence in the sector and giving HIV patients in the country a new treatment option.
The U.S. FDA’s recent final guidance for clinical decision support (CDS) software has drawn a second citizen’s petition for withdrawal, this time from a law professor at the University of Florida (UF). Barbara Evans of the UF School of Law asserted that the CDS final “raises constitutional issues” that are of sufficient importance to warrant an investigation led by the FDA commissioner’s office because of what she argues is a disregard for the First Amendment encoded in the guidance.