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No Safety Shortcuts Under Breakthrough Designation, Synthetic Biologics Finds

 
• By Bridget Silverman

Synthetic Biologics emerged from meetings with US FDA without its breakthrough designation, but with hope that agency will allow decoupling of safety and efficacy endpoints in planned Phase III trial for prevention of C. difficile infection.

Breaking through wall
Please wear your safety googles when attempting a breakthrough.

The narrative surrounding the US FDA’s Breakthrough Therapy Designation (BTD) program has largely focused on its successes in expediting drugs with promising preliminary efficacy for serious unmet medical needs, but the loss of Synthetic Biologics Inc.’s designation for ribaxamase highlights the agency’s strict scrutiny of safety data as well.

Synthetic Biologics voluntarily withdrew the BTD after FDA further reviewed data and analyses from the Phase IIb trial that supported the award of the

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More from Approval Standards

Pink Sheet Podcast: A New Director For US FDA’s Biologics Center, Guidance Production Slowdowns

 
• By Derrick Gingery, Sue Sutter, and Nielsen Hobbs

Pink Sheet editors discuss the appointment of Vinay Prasad as the new director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research and revelations that FDA layoffs now are hindering development of guidance documents.

US FDA Advisory Committee Misperceptions Abound … At HHS

 
• By Michael McCaughan

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.

US FDA Guidance Roadblock: Writing Continues, But Publication Has Slowed Or Stopped

 
• By Derrick Gingery

Cuts to the FDA’s policy and legal personnel have prevented dozens of product-specific guidances for generic drug development from being published.

Tougher Approval Standards May Follow Vinay Prasad’s Appointment To Lead US FDA’s CBER

 
• By Sarah Karlin-Smith

Industry is concerned that Prasad may make regulatory flexibility tougher to obtain for cell and gene therapy, while vaccine and public health advocates are angry about Prasad’s criticisms of US COVID-19 policies.

More from Pathways & Standards

Tougher Approval Standards May Follow Vinay Prasad’s Appointment To Lead US FDA’s CBER

 
• By Sarah Karlin-Smith

Industry is concerned that Prasad may make regulatory flexibility tougher to obtain for cell and gene therapy, while vaccine and public health advocates are angry about Prasad’s criticisms of US COVID-19 policies.

US FDA Expands Surprise Foreign Inspections But Loses Associate Commissioner Michael Rogers

 
• By Sue Sutter

Commissioner Martin Makary’s repeated characterization of foreign facilities as being subject to lower standards than domestic counterparts may have contributed to Rogers’ decision to retire as head of the recently formed Office of Inspections and Investigations.

Sponsors Like START Rare Disease Pilot, Will Prasad Maintain Its Momentum?

 
• By Kate Rawson

Sponsors reported faster development times for products that joined the pilot program intended to speed rare disease treatments in CBER.