Approval Standards

Device-Like System Proposed For Low-Risk Human Cell Therapies, Tissue-Based Products At US FDA

 
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A risk-based approach to human cell therapies and tissue-based products could incentivize development and prevent bad actors from taking advantage of the current FDA system.

US FDA Under Makary: MAHA With A Lighter Touch

 

US FDA Commissioner nominee Martin Makary is being embraced by industry, and Senate Democrats, as a more traditional pick than other Trump Administration nominees, but the Make America Healthy Again agenda still is clearly coming to the agency.

New EU Approvals

 

The Pink Sheet's list of EU centralized approvals of new active substances has been updated to include four new products, one of which is Vimkunya, Bavarian Nordic's chikungunya vaccine.

Unfreezing US FDA: Generic Drug Officials Make Plea For Public Workshops

 

The FDA generic drugs team’s first public workshop of the second Trump Administration ended with a request that industry amplify the value it finds from public engagement.


Almost Public: Interagency Meeting Replaces US FDA ‘25-’26 Flu Vaccine AdComm

 

Only government staff participated in the meeting defining the next season’s influenza vaccine composition after the annual public FDA vaccines advisory committee meeting was cancelled.

US FDA Spikes Vanda’s Hetlioz For Insomnia, Lack Of Well-Controlled Trial ‘Fatal’

 
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Acting Commissioner Sara Brenner rejected the company’s request for a hearing, saying the lack of an adequate and well-controlled trial showing tasimelteon's effectiveness in treating sleep-onset insomnia is “fatal to the application.”

Sponsors Increasingly Happy With CBER Written Responses To Formal Meeting Requests

 

The FY 2024 fourth quarter had the highest number of formal meetings cancelled because written responses were sufficient since the beginning of FY 2018.

Topical Gene Therapy Vyjuvek & Cancer Drug Lynozyfic Among Four New Products Set For EU Market

 

The European Medicines Agency has recommended in favor of approving four new products, and has also reaffirmed its positive opinion for the Alzheimer’s disease drug, Leqembi.


Turning Back The Clock At The US FDA

 

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is nostalgic for the 1960s. Will that include pushing the agency back to the pre-user-fee-era model of defining success based on blocking unsafe drugs, rather than accelerating access to effective ones?

Harmony Gets Dissonant US FDA Response For Wakix In Idiopathic Hypersomnia

 

The agency sent the neuroscience-focused company a refuse-to-file letter for Wakix as a treatment for Idiopathic Hypersomnia, a disease with only one approved treatment and few others in development.

EU Launches Biotech Hub With ‘Critical Information’ About Regulations & Funding

 

The European Commission’s new biotech and biomanufacturing hub will make it easier for innovative biotech companies to find legislative documents, funding information and guidance to help them bring new products to the market.

UK MHRA Consults On The Way For Personalized mRNA Cancer Therapies

 

The UK’s drug regulator is developing a “clear and streamlined” regulatory pathway for individualized cancer mRNA immunotherapies.


Pediatric RSV Vaccine Safety Casts A ‘Long Shadow’ For US FDA

 

The US FDA faces many communications challenges with vaccine skepticism rampant. Is doing everything right going to be good enough?

Metered Dose Inhaler Propellant Transition: US FDA Eager To Avoid Replay Of CFC-To-HFA ‘Complexity’

 

The US FDA wants a smoother transition to newer “low global warming potential” propellants in metered dose inhalers than the prior transition away from CFCs.

Cancer & Blood Disorder Drugs Lead EU Innovative Drug Approvals In 2024: What’s Next For 2025?

 

Medicines containing a new active substance (NAS) approved for pan-EU marketing last year were again led by cancer drugs, with treatments for blood disorders following closely behind. Meanwhile, three NAS-containing drugs have been approved so far this year, and 12 other products are expected to be authorized shortly, having recently been recommended for approval by the European Medicine Agency.

UK’s MHRA To Offer Private Meetings For Innovative RWE Strategies

 

The MHRA’s new scientific dialog program will offer drug developers “closed-door meetings” that will offer “confidential, commercially sensitive discussion” with its staff to help them “refine” their real-world evidence generation strategies.


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.

US FDA Guidance Redefines Obesity, But Keeps 2007 Efficacy Standard

 

The US Food and Drug Administration updated obesity drug development draft guidance for the first time in almost 20 years and although a lot has changed in the field, the FDA’s fundamental expectations to support approval did not.

Pink Sheet Podcast: CDER Director Retires, US FDA Guidance ‘Blizzard,’ Rare Pediatric Disease Program Hangs On

Pink Sheet editors discuss Center for Drug Evaluation and Research Director Patrizia Cavazzoni’s surprising retirement announcement, the importance of the large bolus of guidance documents that the FDA released 6 January, and the FDA’s decision to continue reviewing and granting rare pediatric disease designations even though the program lapsed.

Key India Regulatory Advances To Watch In 2025

 

2024 saw important regulatory changes in India including in areas such as GMP, clinical trials and efforts to rein in unethical marketing practices. Further action is expected to play out in the new year as well.