The FDA Commissioner nominee also commented on trial diversity, the role of public comment and expedited biosimilar reviews during his Senate confirmation hearing.
US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner nominee Martin Makary would not rule out staffing cuts, but told senators that any personnel changes would be “surgical.”
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FDA Commissioner Martin Makary declared during an interview with former Fox News host Megyn Kelly that there “should be nothing political” about the US FDA, but it feels like politics is infecting the agency in unprecedented ways about three weeks into his tenure.
Alonza Cruse, director of the Office of Human and Animal Drugs Inspectorate, and two other senior inspection officials are departing, along with Mark Raza, chief counsel from 2021 until January.
Lowell Zeta, a senior counselor at the FDA from 2020 to 2021, returns as deputy commissioner for strategic initiatives. The agency also names a new acting CIO and acting CVM director, but OGD's Ted Sherwood and OPDP's Catherine Gray retired.
Ascertaining the novelty and benefits of Makary’s new drug approval idea – along with what it would take to implement it – requires more clarity on the types of studies he envisions being used to grant and confirm “plausible mechanism’ approvals.
Industry feedback on a European Medicines Agency pilot that introduced a “stepwise” approach to pediatric investigation plans was positive, but the future of the new model will depend on the outcome of the pharmaceutical legislation negotiations, the agency says.
The European Medicines Agency has launched a phased initiative to consolidate the wide array of training materials for the Clinical Trials Information System, aiming to eliminate duplication, ensure consistency, improve accessibility and enhance user-friendliness.
India is pressing ahead with “big shifts” in its regulatory approach for cell and gene therapies. Reduced “layers of review”, tighter internal timelines, upcoming guidelines to facilitate CGT development and reforms in the constitution of expert committees are some of the key changes.
