The latest drug development news and highlights from our FDA Performance Tracker.
Submissions to US FDA dominated newsflow in the past week, especially Merck & Co. Inc.'s disclosure that a significant new all-comers indication for Keytruda in combination with chemotherapy in first-line non-small cell lung cancer treatment. Here’s your news in brief:
The Keytruda submission came months earlier than expected, and is shaking up projections of how the immuno-oncology field would advance in NSCLC
Brensocatib, Insmed's investigational treatment for non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis, is among the latest products that have been filed for review by the European Medicines Agency for potential EU marketing approval.
Plozasiran, Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals' treatment for familial chylomicronemia syndrome, is among the latest products that have been filed for review by the European Medicines Agency for potential EU marketing approval.
The company’s failure to show its potency assays measured attributes directly related to the mesenchymal stromal cell product’s therapeutic effect highlights the importance of a robust CMC program for complex cell therapies.
Agency staff repeatedly said the BLA based on a single-arm study in 55 patients lacked substantial evidence of effectiveness in steroid-refractory acute graft-versus-host disease and a randomized trial was needed, but changed course “based on additional consideration” after a second CRL.
Recent and upcoming US FDA advisory committee meetings and a summary of the topics covered.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. regularly decries the “conflicts of interest” he believes abound in advisory committees, but his concerns, as well as a recent “policy directive” eliminating industry representatives, seem driven by a misunderstanding of the panels’ jobs.
Screening for conflicts and finding the right expertise for a two-day Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee meeting on four products has been complicated by the Trump Administration’s initial communications freeze and subsequent layoffs in CDER.
