EU Pharma Reform & Reducing Reliance On Asian Imports: What To Expect in 2025

 

The European Commission's 100-day countdown to deliver a Critical Medicines Act, aimed at improving the EU's resilience to supply chain disruptions and price volatility, began last December. Meanwhile, negotiations over the proposed package that will reform the over 20-year-old EU pharmaceutical legislation are now in the hands of the Council of the EU. The Pink Sheet examines what to expect for these key pieces of legislation this year.

MHRA: New UK Point Of Care Legislation Will Remove ‘Regulatory Barriers’ To Innovation

 

The UK’s “world-first” tailored regulatory framework for point of care manufacturing is set to enter into force this summer.

Trump’s US FDA Reforms Need Center Director, Staff Support To Succeed, Former Leaders Say

 
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Former FDA commissioners Mark McClellan and Scott Gottlieb, former acting commissioner Janet Woodcock and current commissioner Robert Califf offered advice on successfully implementing reforms and preventing a mass exodus of FDA employees as inklings emerge that the Trump team is already engaged on this front.

Game-Changing EU-Level HTA Regs Must Allow For Lessons To Be Learned

 

EU joint clinicals assessments introduced under the HTA Regulation have now gone live for cancer medicines and advanced therapies.


EU Consultation Deadline Looms For Pharmacovigilance Rules Update

 

Stakeholders have until 15 January to respond to a European Commission proposal that aims to harmonize pharmacovigilance activities by marketing authorization holders, national competent authorities and the European Medicines Agency.

EU Pharma Reform: Industry Pushes For Early Roll-Out Of Electronic Product Information

 
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Pharmaceutical industry says the transition from paper to electronic product information, as part of EU pharmaceutical reforms, should not be held back by member states' readiness.

Digging Through The US FDA Guidance Blizzard

 

6 January 2025 will be remembered in Washington, DC, as the date Congress certified Donald Trump’s second presidential election victory and a snowstorm shut down most of the city, but for FDA watchers it will be the day the agency released more than two dozen new draft and final guidances.

US FDA Still Reviewing Rare Pediatric Disease Designation Requests Despite Program Lapse

 

The agency’s actions may signal its optimism about near-term reauthorization despite the PRV program and other bills aimed at tackling rare and childhood diseases not making the December 2024 government spending bill.


‘Not a Good Look’: Premiums Could Jump If Trump’s CMS Drops Part D Demo

 
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Despite GOP criticism of the Part D stabilization program and its budgetary impact, the Trump Administration may decide to keep it in part to avoid blame for a premium increase.

US Government Keeps Lights On But Pharma Priorities For PBM Reform, Rare Diseases Nixed

 

The FDA will stay open, but its rare disease priority review voucher program will wind down after not being renewed on 20 December. PBM reform and other industry priorities also were nixed at the last minute in an effort to avoid a government shutdown.

Chaos In Washington Raises Shutdown Fears, PBM And Rare Disease Priorities Cut From CR

 

President-elect Trump is backing a government funding bill that cuts pharma priorities, but it remains unclear whether the plan will garner enough votes to prevent a government shutdown.

Rare, Pediatric Drug Development and Reimbursement Boosted In Shaky US Spending Deal

 

A Catalyst fix, a pediatric rare disease voucher reauthorization that should prevent future workload imbalances for FDA, and a boost for out-of-state coverage in Medicaid are among Congress’s year end commitments to pediatric and rare disease patients that now seem in doubt.


EU Adopts New Procedural Rules To Guide Joint Scientific Consultations For HTA

 

As application of the Health Technology Assessment Regulation nears, the European Commission has launched two new websites to help developers kick start the joint clinical assessment process and request a joint scientific consultation.

Pharma’s ‘Middleman’ Message Still Resonates With Trump

 

Some pharma industry CEOs appear to have done well in their meeting with President-elect Donald Trump and his health care team.

Former Senate Republican Health Leader Not Concerned About Anti-Pharma Stance of Trump’s HHS Appointees

 

Former Sen. Richard Burr suggested to the Pink Sheet that Trump’s HHS leadership picks will have less ability to enact their agendas than people expect.

US House Coronavirus Subcommittee Report May Turn Up Heat On FDA

 
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A new congressional report on the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic underscores that the FDA and its top managers may be in the hot seat.


Can US FDA Dodge DOGE? Return To Office Mandate May Be Biggest Hit

 

The incoming Trump Administration’s “Department Of Government Efficiency” has big plans for sweeping cuts to the federal bureaucracy and regulation. The US FDA likely will feel some effects, but could avoid the most damaging mandates.

Wider Gene Therapy Definition In EU Will Require ‘Myth-Busting’ From EMA

 

The European Commission’s proposed pharma legislation overhaul could expand the definition of a gene therapy medicinal product, posing challenges both from a regulatory and public perception perspective.

The Good, The Bad, And The Uncertain: Trump’s Second Administration And The Rx Industry

 
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The pharma industry arguably suffered none of the possible downside risks during the first Trump Administration, but its relationship with Biden could not have been much worse. And while sponsors may hope a Trump return could improve their fortunes, having Robert F. Kennedy Jr. supervising the FDA is likely not the prescription they prefer.

A Hostile Takeover Of US FDA?

 

The expected nominee for FDA commissioner has not been very kind to the agency in his public statements and President-elect Donald Trump appears to be urging him to shake things up.