The U.S. FDA has guidances on the books for dental products, but the it unleashed a quartet of guidances – ceramics and cements used in dental procedure – for dental products on the final Friday of September 2024. The agency also issued a guidance without comment – unusual for the FDA – for the well-known, terror-striking pneumatic dental hand tool.
Precision Biosciences Inc. has submitted its first clinical trial applications (CTAs) to initiate a phase I study evaluating PBGENE-HBV, an in vivo gene editing program designed to potentially cure chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV).
Capricor Therapeutics Inc. just wrapped up a visit with the U.S. FDA and is prepping to file a BLA in October for its Duchenne muscular dystrophy treatment. Linda Marbán, the company’s CEO, is the guest on the newest BioWorld Insider podcast and she talks about deramiocel (CAP-1002), the company’s allogeneic cardiac-derived cell therapy, for treating the rare disease and how the FDA has made strong efforts in helping lay the groundwork for deramiocel.
The U.S. FDA has lifted the full clinical hold it imposed in June on Biomea Fusion Inc.’ s phase I/II studies of BMF-219 in types 1 and 2 diabetes. A safety review of the phase IIb expansion study was encouraging and none of the elevated lab values confirmed serious liver injury or impairment, said Biomea’s CEO, Thomas Butler.
The U.S. FDA’s approval of yet another indication for Dupixent (dupilumab), partnered between Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Sanofi SA, could mean another $6.4 billion-plus in sales by the end of the decade. Regulators cleared the drug as an add-on maintenance treatment for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with an eosinophilic phenotype who are prone to flare-ups. Dupixent, the first-ever biologic for COPD, entered the market in March 2017.
China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has accepted NDAs for Innovent Biologics Inc.’s IL-23p19 antibody picankibart to treat moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, and Lepu Biopharma’s antibody-drug conjugate MRG-003, to treat recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal cancer.
In some ways, remote patient monitoring (RPM) came of age during the COVID-19 pandemic, but payers still worry about the potential for fraud and abuse. A recent report from the U.S. Office of Inspector General supported concerns about fraud and abuse with RPM, a problem CMS will have to address to constrain unnecessary and potentially illicit spending.
Korean med-tech firm Innosys Co. Ltd. recently launched two new injectable spine bone graft substitute products – Velofuse Gel and Velofuse Putty – and announced a name change to CG Medtech Co. Ltd., effective Nov. 4, 2024.
The FDA has approved Cobenfy, a dual M1/M4 muscarinic agonist that offers a fundamentally different approach to treating schizophrenia. The fixed dose combination of xanomeline-trospium is the first to act via a novel mechanism for the serious psychiatric disorder in over 50 years, finally expanding the treatment options beyond dopamine-targeted therapies. Bristol Myers Squibb Co., which acquired Cobenfy developer Karuna Therapeutics Inc. for $14 billion in a deal that closed in March 2024, said the drug will be available in the U.S. from late October.
Both chambers of the U.S. Congress put aside their election year politicking Sept. 25 long enough to pass a continuing resolution that will keep the government running at its current funding level through Dec. 20.