The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was quite vocal in its statement regarding a recent hospital cybersecurity breach, but HHS recently suffered an undisclosed data breach that cost $7.5 million in taxpayer monies.
The U.S. FDA has posted another proposed ban of the use of electrical stimulation devices (ESDs) for the treatment of self-injurious behavior, which revisits the controversy over their use by the Judge Rotenberg Center.
Following the U.S. FDA’s March 11 approval of Novo Nordisk A/S’ glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist, Wegovy (semaglutide), to reduce the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued guidance ensuring coverage.
When it comes to whether Medicare Part D should cover the new anti-obesity drugs, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and lawmakers may be caught between the math and public pressure.
The EMA’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) adopted a positive opinion recommending approval of Pfizer Inc.’s Emblaveo (aztreonam-avibactam), an antibiotic combination that would offer a new option to patients with serious bacterial infections caused by multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria. If approved, Emblaveo would be among the first beta-lactam/beta-lactamase inhibitor combos cleared for use in Europe.
In February, the U.S. FDA greenlit 11 new drugs, a slight decrease from the 14 approvals seen in the same month the previous year but an increase from January’s tally of eight FDA approvals.
The U.S. FDA posted notice of a medical device correction of Abiomed Inc.'s Impella series of left-side blood pumps because of the risk of perforation of the left ventricle during device placement. The FDA noted that it has received 129 reports of serious injury and 49 reports of fatalities associated with these devices, but did not indicate whether device malfunction was the source of these adverse events. Abiomed advises customers that the device should be implanted “with special care” in patients during active cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and to review some updated warnings in the product’s instruction for use statement.
Stimlabs LLC received U.S. FDA approval for Corplex P, a wound care product that uses placental tissue to facilitate wound healing. “Corplex P is the first particulate device derived from human umbilical cord extracellular matrix indicated for the management of acute and chronic wounds,” Stimlabs CEO John Daniel told BioWorld.
The U.S. FDA has approved Duvyzat (givinostat), from Italfarmaco SpA, for treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). It is the first oral, nonsteroidal drug for treating all of DMD’s genetic variants. The oral treatment is approved for those ages 6 and older.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. has obtained IND clearance from the FDA for VX-407, an investigational first-in-class small-molecule corrector that targets the underlying cause of autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) in patients with a subset of PKD1 genetic variants.