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Iclusig Experience Reflects Regulatory Risk Inherent With Accelerated Approval

 
• By Sue Sutter

FDA reviewers and outside experts discussed at length concerns about cardiovascular and other adverse events in the single-arm PACE trial but believed ponatinib’s impressive efficacy in a difficult-to-treat leukemia population warranted bringing the drug to market. Sales of the tyrosine kinase inhibitor were halted less than 11 months later as safety and dosing concerns continued to pile up.

Rather than representing a failure of FDA’s accelerated approval process, Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s halt in sales of its leukemia drug Iclusig (ponatinib) due to increasing rates of cardiovascular-related adverse events should be a reassuring sign to industry that the agency is willing to take calculated risks when faced with an efficacious drug.

That FDA requested ponatinib come off the market pending a benefit/risk re-evaluation less than 11 months after accelerated approval might call into question whether the agency’s super-speedy review, officially clocked...

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More from United States

Pink Sheet Podcast: US FDA’s Big Vaccine Policy Week

 
• By Derrick Gingery, Sarah Karlin-Smith, Sue Sutter, and Nielsen Hobbs

Pink Sheet reporter and editors discuss the new clinical trial requirements that the FDA announced for COVID-19 vaccines, the updated label for Novavax’s newly approved COVID-19 vaccine, and other vaccine-related events that were part of a busy week for policy in the sector.

US FDA Punts On New COVID-19 Framework’s Impact On Fall Shots

 
• By Sarah Karlin-Smith

The FDA’s advisors split on whether to update COVID-19 vaccines for the fall. The agency refused to discuss the impact of the new vaccine framework on availability.

Sarfez Pharma’s Promotional Claims For Diuretic Soaanz Draw US FDA Warning Letter

 
• By Sue Sutter

Webpages, a healthcare professional pamphlet and a medical conference exhibit booth panel make unsupported comparative superiority claims about generic torsemide products and misrepresent risks, the Office of Prescription Drug Promotion says in its first warning letter of 2025.

MAHA Commission Outlines Enhanced Research On Drug Safety In Children

 
• By Cathy Kelly

Research would include initiatives on reproducing industry-sponsored studies, postmarket surveillance, and studies of long-term neurodevelopmental and metabolic outcomes for commonly prescribed pediatric drugs.

More from North America

Non-User Fee Dollars Increased In US FDA’s Updated FY 2026 Budget Request

 
• By Derrick Gingery

The budget authority total, which is significantly higher than the amount floated in an April OMB draft document, suggests there may have been successful lobbying to increase FDA funding.

US ‘Most Favored Nation’ Pricing Could be Game Changer for Drug Access In Germany

 
• By Francesca Bruce

In this first in a series of articles looking at the potential impact of the MFN drug pricing policy on European pharmaceutical markets, EUCOPE’s Alexander Natz tells the Pink Sheet why the US policy underscores the importance of confidential net pricing.

Pfizer’s All-Comers CRPC Dream For Talzenna Quashed For Lack Of Biomarker-Negative Rigor

 
• By Bridget Silverman

The lack of a formal analysis of efficacy in castration-resistant prostate cancer patients without HRR mutations doomed Pfizer’s Talzenna at the US FDA's Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee, as FDA oncology chief Richard Pazdur says chance cannot be ruled out.