Genentech Inc. didn’t need to wait until Thanksgiving for the U.S. FDA to make up its mind. More than a month ahead of its PDUFA date, the agency approved the firm’s first-line breast cancer treatment, Itovebi (inavolisib), providing the oral therapy a place with other niched therapies from Astrazeneca plc and Novartis AG. Itovebi is to be combined with Pfizer Inc.’s palbociclib (Ibrance) and Faslodex (fulvestrant, Astrazeneca) for adults with endocrine-resistant, PIK3CA-mutated, hormone receptor (HR)-positive, HER2-negative, locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer.
Endostart s.r.l obtained CE marking for the expanded use of its magnetic balloon system for use in endoscopic procedures, Endorail, to enteroscopy. The company believes that Endorail, which helps resolve intestinal looping, will make the procedure more accessible and improve patient care.
Regenerative medicine company Orthocell Ltd.’s nerve repair product, Remplir, was approved by Singapore’s Health Sciences Authority, opening up the Asian market for the company’s biggest product.
“This was worse than our national election,” Eric Peterson said as he explained his vote Oct. 10 concluding that Stealth Biotherapeutics Inc.’s elamipretide is effective in treating Barth syndrome, an ultra-rare mitochondrial disease that currently affects 129 males in the U.S. Peterson, a vice provost, senior associate dean and professor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, was one of 10 members of the U.S. FDA’s Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee (CRDAC) who came to that conclusion. Six others had a different opinion. Regardless of which way they voted, the panelists attested to how difficult the decision was.
Abbott Laboratories reported it achieved new major milestones to support the company's growing suite of pulsed field ablation (PFA) solutions in electrophysiology: early completion of enrollment in the VOLT-AF IDE study supporting the Volt PFA system, and the launch of the Focalflex trial to assess the company's Tactiflex Duo ablation catheter, sensor enabled, which will be used in the treatment of patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.
The Japanese government is throwing full weight behind the Bioeconomy Strategy initiative to position Japan’s biopharmaceutical industry as both a key driver of economic growth and global drug discovery hub.
With confidence dropping in doing business with China-affiliated life sciences companies due to the Biosecure Act, one of the companies explicitly named in the U.S. legislation is fighting back. Raising the possibility of a constitutional challenge to the bill, Rade Drmanac, co-founder and chief scientific officer of Complete Genomics Inc., wrote to congressional leaders to urge them to remove the California-based subsidiary of MGI from the bill.
The U.S. FDA has issued yet another complete response letter (CRL) for dasiglucagon, a glucagon receptor agonist, being developed by Zealand Pharma A/S for treating congenital hyperinsulinism, an ultra-rare disease that is also being targeted by at least two other companies. This CRL is pegged to the timing of a third-party manufacturing facility reinspection that was done in August and September. The agency also wants some additional clinical analysis from the phase III study.
The U.S. FDA gave the 510(k) green light to Echo IQ Ltd.’s Echosolv AS for its AI-enabled software as a medical device to be used as a decision support aid in detecting severe aortic stenosis.
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