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Avastin Decision Leaves Lingering Uncertainty As To Threshold Level Of Progression-Free Survival Benefit

 
• By Sue Sutter

In her memo revoking Avastin’s metastatic breast cancer claim, FDA Commissioner Hamburg declines to adopt a “bright-line” cutoff of median PFS improvement that would be necessary to establish efficacy, despite industry’s desire for more certainty about the threshold for approval.

FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg’s decision on the withdrawal of Avastin’s (bevacizumab) metastatic breast cancer claim highlights the continuing degree of uncertainty faced by sponsors who pursue accelerated approval on the basis of a progression-free survival endpoint.

Hamburg’s 69-page memo is striking in its outright rejection of most of the legal, scientific and evidentiary arguments proffered by Genentech Inc

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International Group Aims To Shape The Inevitable Future Of AI In Pharmacovigilance

 
• By Urtė Fultinavičiūtė

Pharmacovigilance is a perfect rule-based and manual work-intensive playground for experimenting with AI. While some off-patent drug firms are already exploring new automation tools, regulation is lagging behind, leaving a gap for uncertainty.

Safety Review Prompts EMA to Suspend Ixchiq Chikungunya Vaccine For Seniors

 
• By Neena Brizmohun

The European Medicines Agency is investigating whether Valneva’s Ixchiq is safe to use in the elderly, following reports of 17 serious adverse events, including two cases resulting in death, in people aged 62 to 89 years who received the vaccine. This follows actions by US and French authorities last month regarding Ixchiq’s use in people over 65.

Opioid Safety: US FDA Hears Mixed Messages On Adding Posmarketing Studies To Labeling

 
• By Sue Sutter

Some advisory committee members said adding quantitative data on misuse, abuse, opioid use disorder and overdose to labeling would be helpful, but others worried the two epidemiological studies were not sufficiently generalizable to a broader population.

US FDA Asks Adcomm If Opioid Postmarketing Studies Are Relevant, Warrant Action

 
• By Sue Sutter

Two US FDA advisory committees will discuss results from epidemiological studies that attempted to quantify the prevalence, incidence and risk factors for misuse, abuse, overdose and death with opioid analgesics.

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US FDA Adcomm To Consider If Genentech’s Columvi Study Generalizable To US

 
• By Sue Sutter

Patients from Asia saw a differential treatment effect versus non-Asian regions in the Phase III multiregional study, with an adverse survival trend seen in the latter group, the FDA said about the lymphoma drug.

Califf In Conversation: ‘Decimated’ US FDA Teams Endanger Innovation

 
• By Barnaby Pickering

Pink Sheet sister publication In Vivo spoke to the former FDA commissioner about the recent layoffs and their impact on vaccine and other product development.

EU Shaping Biotech Act To Unleash SME Potential

 
• By Neena Brizmohun

European companies, in particular small and midsize enterprises, spin-offs and start-ups have a hard time expanding within the single market “because of a complex regulatory framework that is perceived as slow and burdensome,” according to the European Commission.