Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Cytokinetics, Mylan Laboratories, Novavax, RDIF, Revolo, Roche, TG, Tiziana, Viatris.
The U.S. FDA has approved Sanofi SA’s treatment for cold agglutinin disease (CAD), sutimlimab, after the drug was initially rejected by the regulator for technical reasons in 2020. Paris-based Sanofi’s drug will be branded as Enjaymo.
The guidances for in vitro diagnostics (IVDs) developed by the European Union’s Medical Device Coordination Group (MDCG) are only a reflection of the In Vitro Diagnostic Regulation (IVDR), but they do provide test developers with some important details.
In one of its familiar U-turns, the U.K. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended NHS England should fund a rare disease gene therapy from Orchard Therapeutics plc, considered to be the world’s most expensive drug. The list price for Libmeldy (atidarsagene autotemcel) in England and Wales is £2,875,000 (US$3.9 million), making it the most expensive drug that NICE has ever evaluated.
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) has unanimously recommended the agency endorse administering Moderna Inc.'s COVID-19 vaccine, Spikevax (elasomeran), to adults. The vote was a strong echo of the FDA’s full approval of the vaccine for adults only a few days earlier, on Jan. 31. After hearing safety and efficacy data from Moderna and an internal analysis of that data from the CDC, ACIP recommended by a vote of 13-0 that the CDC endorse the vaccine’s use for people 18 years and older.
Regulatory snapshots, including global drug submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: AB Science, Antares, Biophytis, Catalyst, Eubiologics, Novavax, Pardes, Pharmazz, Syros, Timber.
Biocardia Inc. received FDA breakthrough device designation for its Cardiamp cell therapy system for treatment of heart failure. The good news provided a welcome 27% boost to the share price (NASDAQ:BCDA), lifting it from $1.57 at Wednesday’s close to $2.00 by the market’s close Thursday. Extended timelines for trials associated with the pandemic have hammered the company, which has seen its stock price fall more than 60% in the last two years.
The FDA’s device center has repeatedly asserted that its goal is to ensure that patients in the U.S. will always have first access to the latest and greatest in med tech, and a new priority document resurrects that goal in principle. However, the latest strategic plan qualifies that metric as half of manufacturers of novel technologies bringing their devices to the U.S. market “first, or in parallel with other major markets” by the end of 2025.
Regulatory snapshots, including global submissions and approvals, clinical trial approvals and other regulatory decisions and designations: Biocardia, Bone Solutions, Co-Diagnostics, Cosara, Dyad Medical, Exactech.