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Cell Therapy Development: White Paper Urges US FDA To Allow Some Shortcuts

 
• By Michael McCaughan

A Friends of Cancer Research working group suggests that the US FDA can learn lessons from the approval of Gilead/Kite’s second CAR-T therapy Tecartus that can help expedited iterative development of cell therapies more broadly.

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A Friends of Cancer Research white paper argues that the use of pre-clinical, dosing and manufacturing data from Gilead Sciences, Inc./Kite Pharma’s Yescarta CAR-T therapy to support approval of the follow-on Tecartus provides a model for the US FDA to use in streamlining iterative product development of cellular therapies.

“Yescarta and Tecartus provide an example of extrapolation in engineered cellular therapy products,” the white paper says. Yescarta (axicabtagene ciloleucel) was one of the first CAR-T anticancer therapies approved by...

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US FDA’s June Approval Forecast: Infection Prevention, Cancer And HAE

 
• By Bridget Silverman

Upcoming FDA user fee goal dates include novel products from a busy lung cancer pipeline, a single-dose passive immunization against RSV for infants, what could be the first oral HAE acute treatment, and a first-in-class HAE preventive antibody.

What Information Does US FDA Need For Stealth’s Elamipretide After CRL?

 
• By Sue Sutter

The agency said it will consider knee extensor muscle strength as a potential intermediate clinical endpoint to support accelerated approval, but Stealth CEO Reenie McCarthy said announcing it via complete response letter is confusing and inefficient.

EMA Touts Faster Global Post-Approval Changes Via Regulatory Reliance

 
• By Eliza Slawther

The European Medicines Agency says that a regulatory reliance pilot that it is supporting to speed up assessments of post-approval changes appears to be accelerating evaluation timelines in non-EU countries.

New EU Approvals

 
• By Neena Brizmohun

The Pink Sheet's list of EU centralized approvals of new active substances has been updated to include two new products, one of which is Vyjuvek, Krystal Biotech's advanced therapy for treating dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa.

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Australia Looks To Modernize Human Tissue Laws, Improving Access For Researchers

 
• By Eliza Slawther

Australia is reviewing its human tissue laws for the first time in almost 50 years, and is hoping to reduce barriers to access for scientific researchers, for instance by addressing issues with access to cell lines for developing drugs.

China NMPA Lays Out Regulatory Priorities At DIA

 
• By Xu Hu

At this year’s DIA China meeting, the national regulator updated its policy focus areas for this year, including clinical trial data protection and pilot projects to shorten IND approval times.

US FDA Cell-Gene Therapy Head Says Agency Has Revived Stalled Programs

 
• By Sarah Karlin-Smith

CBER's Nicole Verdun wants rare disease sponsors with stalled treatments to circle back because the FDA's evolved thinking on clinical trial designs may offer another opportunity for cast away products.