FDA’s outgoing head of new drug review cautions against duplicating Oncology ‘Center of Excellence’ model across multiple therapeutic areas, advocating for a more ‘balanced portfolio’ in structuring review operations; other topics during podcast interview include Jenkins’ future plans in drug regulation and one major safety decision that turned out differently than expected.
The Food & Drug Administration’s Oncology “Center of Excellence” may be an efficient way to review new cancer treatments, but it is not a model that should be replicated for every therapeutic category across the agency, Office of New Drugs Director John Jenkins, MD, said during an exit interview podcast ahead of his planned departure from the agency on Jan. 6.
“There is a lot of history behind how FDA is organized, and there is some rationale about how FDA is...
Highlights from Day Two of the BIO International Convention include BIO officials raising concerns about Trump Administration policies, the future of ACIP, an interview with BI's head of global business development, and FDA Commissioner Martin Makary's view of the FDA-industry relationship.
The FDA will use electronic health records to “get eyes” on drugs immediately after approval, Commissioner Martin Makary told the DIA 2025 Global Annual Meeting. He also wants to reduce development time with better communication and new approval pathways.
Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research Director Vinay Prasad said Commissioner Martin Makary wants to release previously inaccessible FDA documents, but previous commissioners have made the same pronouncements only to make little progress.
FDA employees are concerned that while the budget authority total proposed for fiscal year 2026 meets the user fee appropriations' triggers, the FDA could have trouble meeting allocation triggers without cuts to non-review work.
Commissioner Martin Makary told staff that plans are being developed to centralize HR, IT, travel and other functions, which were heavily impacted by the 1 April reduction-in-force.
The House Appropriations Committee wants an analysis of how issues that led to CRLs could have been resolved within the first review cycle and seeks an agency crackdown on counterfeit GLP-1 agonists.
Merck’s newly approved Enflonsia for RSV is one of the products expected to be recommended for use by the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices later this month.
