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Genzyme’s Lemtrada Experience Offers Lessons for “Breakthrough” Sponsors

 
• By Cole Werble

When it comes to asking for special attention for priority drug development project, sponsors should remember the old adage, “be careful what you ask for, you just might get it.” Inviting FDA review teams to offer more explicit advice on clinical trial designs can be very helpful, but it also carries the implicit obligation to hew more closely to the advice that FDA gives—or face major complications later on.

The “Breakthrough Therapy” program is generating a lot of buzz in its infancy: 85 requests for breakthrough status in the 13 months since the program was created by the FDA Safety & Innovation Act of 2012, with 27 “Breakthrough” designations granted and two approvals already for Breakthrough-designated drugs.

Drug sponsors are jumping at the offer of heightened attention from senior Food & Drug Administration review managers. The added...

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More from US FDA Performance Tracker

August Brings Fresh Faces And Tough Calls To US FDA User Fee Calendar

 
• By Bridget Silverman

The FDA could act on 17 applications, including 10 novel agents, during August. Only one would be a second-cycle review.

Complete Response Letter Trio Raises Prospect Of Tidal Shift In Regenerative Medicine Regulation

 
• By Bridget Silverman

Replimune's RP1 oncolytic immunotherapy became the third regenerative medicine to receive an FDA complete response letter this month as the agency appears to re-visit previous agreements about accelerated approval.

US FDA’s Second Half 2025 User Fee Goals Swing Toward Respiratory Disease

 
• By Bridget Silverman

The 43 novel agents with user fee goal dates in the remainder of 2025 have fewer oncologics and infectious disease drugs than the first half of the year.

Slowdown: US FDA’s 2025 Novel Approvals Are On Below-Average Pace

 
• By Bridget Silverman

US FDA's 25 novel approvals in 2025 fell short of the agency's five-year average count, driven by a drop in drugs center approvals; 45 user fee goals remain in second half of year.

More from Regulatory Trackers

Slowdown: US FDA’s 2025 Novel Approvals Are On Below-Average Pace

 
• By Bridget Silverman

US FDA's 25 novel approvals in 2025 fell short of the agency's five-year average count, driven by a drop in drugs center approvals; 45 user fee goals remain in second half of year.

Global Pharma Guidance Tracker - June 2025

 
• By Vibha Sharma and Anabel Costa-Ferreira

Stay up to date on regulatory guidelines from around the world with the Pink Sheet’s Guidance Tracker. The complete Global Pharma Guidance Tracker, with sortable and searchable listings going back to 2014, is available online.

US FDA’s CRL Release More Incremental Than ‘Radical’ Transparency

 
• By Bridget Silverman

The transparency initiative collects CRLs already made public in approval packages on its drugs@fda site to post on the openFDA public portal.