The U.S. FDA added a second pulsed field ablation (PFA) system to the approved list with its greenlight for Boston Scientific Corp.’s Farapulse for treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF). Farapulse joins Medtronic plc’s Pulseselect, which garnered FDA approval in December. Two other PFA devices scored regulatory wins since the new year: Biosense Webster inc.’s Varipulse secured approval from the Japanese Ministry of Health Labor and Welfare and Sichaun Jinjiang Electronic Medical Device Technology Co. Ltd. got the nod from China’s National Medical Products Administration.
Seoul-based Genexine Inc. filed a BLA to gain domestic approval of its follow-on biologic for chronic kidney disease (CKD)-induced anemia, Efesa (efepoetin alfa, GX-E4), to South Korean health regulators on Jan. 25.
The biopharma industry lauded the first steps the Australian government has taken to widen access for drugs and devices via reforms to the current health technology assessment process that has remained unchanged for 30 years.
The U.S. FDA’s latest draft guidance for the use of real-world evidence (RWE) is a substantially heftier document than the 2017 final guidance that will shortly become obsolete, and buried in all those extra pages are a few key details.
The U.S. FDA has redrafted an existing guidance for third-party reviews of 510(k) submissions to include submissions under the emergency use authorization (EUA) program, which generally speaking should be good news. The problem with the draft is that these third parties will have to interact frequently and substantively with the FDA in EUA reviews, and the lack of prescribed timelines in the FDA draft suggests that while the use of third parties may help the agency manage any future EUA workloads, the total turnaround time for these applications might not be significantly better than was seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Royal Philips NV agreed with the U.S. FDA to the terms of a consent decree focused on its Respironics business, following the recall of millions of its devices over the last few years. Although the details of the decree are being finalized, Philips said it will halt the sales of new continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) and bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP) sleep therapy machines as well as other respiratory care devices in the U.S. until the conditions of the decree are met.
Ascidian Therapeutics Inc. has received FDA clearance of its IND application for ACDN-01, an RNA exon editor targeting the genetic cause of Stargardt disease.
In keeping with federal standards for classifying race and ethnicity data, the U.S. FDA issued a draft revision to broaden its 2016 guidance on the collection of such data in clinical trials.
The U.S. FDA accepted Novocure GmbH’s premarket approval (PMA) application to use its Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields) technology together with standard systemic therapies to treat non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) following progression on or after platinum-based therapy. Novocure hopes that the application, under review, will get the green light and the therapy, which uses electric fields to disrupt solid tumors and kill cancer cells, will be on the market in the second half of 2024.
Neuralace Medical Inc. tied up a second U.S. FDA clearance for its Axon therapy, adding painful diabetic neuropathy (PDN) to the chronic nerve pain indication it received in 2021. An ‘electroceutical’ device, Axon employs non-invasive magnetic peripheral nerve stimulation (mPNS) to provide relief without leads, injections or implants.
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