The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has ordered the FDA to cease requiring developers of lab-developed tests (LDTs) to go through the agency’s premarket review mechanisms before offering an LDT. The context of the order might at first blush be interpreted as limiting the scope of the order to the public health emergency (PHE) to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the statement expands the temporal scope by referencing a need for rulemaking on the FDA’s part, one of several indications that this order is intended to outlast the PHE.

The U.S. FDA has granted emergency use authorization (EUA) to Lumiradx UK Ltd. for its point-of-care SARS-CoV-2 antigen test, which aims to speed the diagnosis of people suspected of having the virus that causes COVID-19. The test detects antigen nucleocapsid protein from a nasal swab taken from symptomatic patients and delivers results in less than 12 minutes.

Avoiding the political overtones that seem to be more viral than COVID-19 these days, Anand Shah, deputy commissioner for medical and scientific affairs at the FDA, stressed that even though the agency is making decisions in real time in response to the urgency of the pandemic in the U.S., its decisions are being driven by scientific integrity, regulatory independence and the FDA’s historic commitment to ensuring the safety and efficacy of the products it regulates.

Novartis AG won FDA clearance for the anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody Kesimpta (ofatumumab) in relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) in adults, with a label that includes clinically isolated syndrome and relapsing-remitting as well as active secondary progressive disease.

The U.S. FDA has greenlighted two new modules for Siemens Healthineers’ AI-Rad Companion platform, giving radiologists new artificial intelligence (AI) tools to assist in interpreting magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of the brain and prostate. The AI-Rad Companion Brain MR for Morphometry Analysis and AI-Rad Companion Prostate MR for Biopsy Support join earlier intelligent software modules for Chest CT.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. released updated software and new instructions for its Taqpath COVID-19 Combo Kit, a widely used COVID-19 test kit that is also the basis for several other coronavirus diagnostics, following issuance of a letter to clinical laboratory staff and health care providers by the U.S. FDA about the risk of false results with the test. Separately, the Waltham, Mass.-based company has released the first in a series of hematology-oncology assays designed to run on its Ion Torrent Genexus system.

An FDA rejection of Galapagos NV's rheumatoid arthritis (RA) drug filgotinib, announced Aug. 18, was "disappointing and unexpected," CEO Onno van de Stolpe said, adding that "there is so much more" to his company's story and pipeline. Gilead Sciences Inc., the Belgian company's partner and a substantial backer of both the drug and the pipeline, said it would "evaluate the points raised" by the CRL, but continued to believe in the drug.

Life science companies doing business during a pandemic may believe that patients, judges and juries will look kindly on products that don’t perform as promised, but that may be an empty wish.

Life science companies doing business during a pandemic may believe that patients, judges and juries will look kindly on products that don’t perform as promised, but that may be an empty wish. Angela Seaton, an attorney with the D.C. office of Shook, Hardy & Bacon LLP, advised that companies that want to break into new markets because of pandemic-specific demand should do their homework, including a review of U.S. FDA warning letters.