Aduhelm Approval Firestorm Raises Question: What Are US FDA Advisory Committees For, Anyway?

After three panel members resign over agency’s approval of Biogen’s Alzheimer’s disease drug, the ‘billion-dollar question’ is why FDA provided so little information to justify use of beta amyloid as a surrogate endpoint, one panelist asserts, especially since the agency expressly disavowed the pathway during the advisory committee meeting.

advisory committee firestorm
US FDA approval of Alzheimer's disease drug Aduhelm riles advisory panel • Source: photo illustration/Alamy images

Among the criticisms the US Food and Drug Administration is facing following its approval of the Biogen, Inc./Eisai Co., Ltd. Alzheimer’s disease drug Aduhelm (aducanumab) is that the decision ran counter to the recommendations of the advisory committee the agency convened to review the product.

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‘Pipeline In A Pill’ Or Pipe Dream? US FDA’s April Goal Dates Test Expansion Strategies

 

Sanofi’s Dupixent, Amgen’s Uplizna, and Bristol’s Opdivo seek new indications, while J&J hopes to start a franchise with nipocalimab and Stealth’s day of reckoning approaches.

US FDA’s March Approval Candidates Take Aim At Established Markets

 

March features nearly 20 user fee goal dates, including a crowd of novel candidates for crowded areas like hemophilia, heart disease and urinary tract infections, as well as the potentially first therapies for a rare eye disease and hyperphagia of Prader-Willi syndrome.

GSK’s Penmenvy, Bavarian Nordic’s Vimkunya Clear US FDA, Will CDC Follow?

 

The US FDA approval of new meningococcal and chikungunya vaccines arrived in time for the 26-28 February meeting of the CDC’s Advisory Committee On Immunization Practices, if political developments allow.

Rapidly Rising RMAT Designations Crack CBER’s Communication Freeze

 

The US FDA is receiving more requests for regenerative medicine advanced therapy designation and granting more of them, according to recently reported agency data.

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US FDA’s March Approval Candidates Take Aim At Established Markets

 

March features nearly 20 user fee goal dates, including a crowd of novel candidates for crowded areas like hemophilia, heart disease and urinary tract infections, as well as the potentially first therapies for a rare eye disease and hyperphagia of Prader-Willi syndrome.

EU Decision Time For Topical Gene Therapy Beremagene Geperpavec And Five Others

 

The European Medicines Agency is set to issue opinions this week on whether pan-EU marketing approval should be granted to a number of new products.

GSK’s Penmenvy, Bavarian Nordic’s Vimkunya Clear US FDA, Will CDC Follow?

 

The US FDA approval of new meningococcal and chikungunya vaccines arrived in time for the 26-28 February meeting of the CDC’s Advisory Committee On Immunization Practices, if political developments allow.