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Germany Issues Benefit Assessment For InterMune’s Esbriet, Despite Orphan Drug Status

 
• By Faraz Kermani

Germany’s senior health technology assessment body, the G-BA, has said that InterMune’s Esbriet is beneficial, but says it is unsure to what extent. However, such added value assessments for orphan drugs could be illegal.

The German Joint Federal Committee’s (G-BA’s) decision on March 15 to give the go-ahead for price negotiations to begin for InterMune Inc.’s idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis product Esbriet (pirfenidone) comes as no surprise. However, its assessment, mirroring an earlier judgment from the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG), that Esbriet offers an “unquantifiable benefit” to patients has rattled the some in the pharmaceutical industry.

The confirmation is a worrying development in the sense that IQWiG’s initial decision to assess the added benefit of an...

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More from Europe

EU Pharma Reform: Lawyers Unpack Diverging Visions For Innovation

 
• By Eliza Slawther

There are now three draft versions of the legislative text that will overhaul the framework governing pharmaceuticals in the EU. Lawyers explain how the approaches proposed by the European Commission, European Parliament and Council of the EU differ and highlight implications for industry.

‘Prices Can Remain Contaminated Indefinitely’: Advanz Brushed Aside On UK Liothyronine Appeal

 
• By Dean Rudge

England’s Court of Appeal has upheld a Competition Appeal Tribunal’s 2023 finding that Advanz and its former owner Cinven abused their dominant position in the UK market for liothyronine tablets by charging prices that were many orders of magnitude higher than the benchmark for fair pricing.

New EU Filings

 
• By Neena Brizmohun

Linerixibat, GSK's treatment for cholestatic pruritus in patients with primary biliary cholangitis, is among the latest products that have been filed for review by the European Medicines Agency for potential EU marketing approval.

EMA Explores Supporting Drug Development For High Unmet Need Disorder Scleroderma

 
• By Neena Brizmohun

While treatments for scleroderma are in development, none are approved for the condition that is associated with high morbidity and mortality. The European Medicines Agency says guidance on how to design development programs for the disorder is needed.

More from Geography

‘Prices Can Remain Contaminated Indefinitely’: Advanz Brushed Aside On UK Liothyronine Appeal

 
• By Dean Rudge

England’s Court of Appeal has upheld a Competition Appeal Tribunal’s 2023 finding that Advanz and its former owner Cinven abused their dominant position in the UK market for liothyronine tablets by charging prices that were many orders of magnitude higher than the benchmark for fair pricing.

New EU Filings

 
• By Neena Brizmohun

Linerixibat, GSK's treatment for cholestatic pruritus in patients with primary biliary cholangitis, is among the latest products that have been filed for review by the European Medicines Agency for potential EU marketing approval.

Podium Policy Returns To US FDA, Or Is It Podcast Policy?

 
• By Michael McCaughan

US FDA critics have long decried the practice of using informal communications to convey regulatory expectations as podium policy. In the Makary era, the phrase may need to be updated because the agency now seems to be specializing in policy by podcast.