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COVID Vaccine BLA Review ‘Sprint’: Elevating Marks Role Could Have Drawbacks

 
• By Sarah Karlin-Smith

US FDA veterans offered varying opinions as to the benefits and risks of the CBER director taking on a more hands-on role in reviewing Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. The move was called unusual, but not inappropriate; some said it should be monitored closely to ensure review staff’s judgements are not pushed aside.

sprinter
FDA is kicking off a sprint to finish reviewing Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine BLA. • Source: Alamy

Reports that US Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologic Evaluation and Research Director Peter Marks is assuming leadership of Pfizer Inc./BioNTech SE’s COVID-19 biologics license application raises some potential red flags the agency should be sure to handle carefully.

“I think it's great to have the center director engaged. And trying to help the process along, but I do think making sure that the experts who would normally make...

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Pink Sheet Podcast: US FDA’s Private Pharma CEO Tour, HHS Changes COVID-19 Vaccine Advice

 
• By Derrick Gingery, Sarah Karlin-Smith, Sue Sutter, and Nielsen Hobbs

Pink Sheet reporter and editors consider the issues that could emerge during upcoming private FDA forums with pharma CEOs, as well as the impact of the surprising move by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to limit the CDC recommendation for annual COVID-19 vaccine boosters.

US FDA Meeting Drought Ends … With A Vengeance

 
• By Michael McCaughan

The first 100 days of the Trump Administration were notable for an extraordinary decline in the number of public meetings hosted by the US Food and Drug Administration. But the schedule changed quickly.

HHS Rescinds COVID-19 Vaccine Advice, Usurping US CDC Role

 
• By Sue Sutter

By stepping into the role of the Centers for Disease Control and Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is causing further confusion and uncertainty about vaccine policy, experts say.

Pink Sheet Podcast: US FDA’s Big Vaccine Policy Week

 
• By Derrick Gingery, Sarah Karlin-Smith, Sue Sutter, and Nielsen Hobbs

Pink Sheet reporter and editors discuss the new clinical trial requirements that the FDA announced for COVID-19 vaccines, the updated label for Novavax’s newly approved COVID-19 vaccine, and other vaccine-related events that were part of a busy week for policy in the sector.

More from Pink Sheet

Japan Price Cuts For Epkinly and Lunsumio Following CEA

 
• By Lisa Takagi

Japan is cutting more drug reimbursement prices following cost effectiveness analysis and is applying the methodology to a new group of products including Wegovy and Leqembi.

US FDA’s ‘Good Reputation’ For Science May Mean Loper Bright Not ‘Cataclysmic,’ Attorney Says

 
• By Malcolm Spicer

Bridget Dooling, a law school professor who reviewed draft regulations from the FDA and other agencies as an OMB attorney, said prior federal court decisions suggest judges typically defer to agency decisions based in science.

US FDA’s Prasad: ‘We Will Always Embrace Surrogate Endpoints’

 
• By Sarah Karlin-Smith

The new CBER director, once best known in the pharma world for criticizing accelerated approval, committed to expediting cancer drugs with surrogate endpoints.