Pink Sheet Perspectives
Novel agents from the biologics center had a median review time of 10.6 months, beating the drugs center's median of 11.8 months thanks to fewer multicycle and more priority reviews.
Review times for all 61 novel agents the US FDA approved in 2024.
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.
Now that one of the most controversial pharma M&As of 2024 has closed, the Pink Sheet looks at whether overtures to concerned customers and extended prenotification discussions helped Novo and Catalent seal the deal.
Anti-PBM sentiment continues to rise, but industry observers still question whether the reforms being discussed will be effective.
Regenerative medicines using expedited review pathways dominate novel approvals at the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, while the Center for Drug Evaluation’s higher volume comes with lower first-cycle approval rates and more standard reviews.
Marketing authorization applications for five new advanced therapy medicinal products were filed with the European Medicines Agency in 2024, the highest number in any year since 2020. The Pink Sheet looks at these and two other ATMPs that might get the thumbs up from the European Medicines Agency 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.
The policies for China’s biopharma industry in 2024 centered around innovative small molecules, biologics and cell and gene therapies. Regulation changes for the industry in 2025 could be a continuation of that.
The Pink Sheet looks at what major policies and regulations South Korean authorities prioritized in 2024 and what may be in store for this year.
The compounding industry ties for Martin Makary, President-elect Trump’s candidate to lead the FDA, could mean less compounding enforcement, experts said, but government officials said their enforcement focus will remain nonpartisan.
The US FDA drugs center cleared 50 novel agents and the biologics center contributed 11 novel biologic approvals. The agency also acted on 77 novel applications, including 16 complete response letters.
The European Medicines Agency is preparing to roll out simplified transparency rules for its Clinical Trials Information System in mid-2024. This article looks at what will change and the impact on the thousands of trials that are already in the system.
The numbers may be down, but Europeans will in future be able to gain access to a number of highly innovative medicines, including several products for hard-to-treat cancers, a gene therapy for severe and moderately severe hemophilia B, and two vaccines against disease caused by respiratory syncytial virus.
Immuno-oncology will remain a major force at both FDA’s drugs and biologics centers, but watch for psychiatry and antibiotics to make some noise; rare pediatric diseases will remain prominent as the priority review voucher program heads into the sunset.
While at least 25 accelerated approval cancer indications or drugs have been pulled or requested withdrawn since 2020, there has not yet been a similar concerted regulatory effort in the non-oncology space despite a large number of products with overdue postmarketing requirements.
CBER director suggests more flexibility on confirmatory study timing is warranted for accelerated approvals in rare diseases and even in some more common scenarios such as infectious disease outbreaks, although a ‘relatively stronger approach’ will apply to most large indications.
Of 11 NMEs and novel biologics, only one – a vaccine for a tropical disease – did not have confirmatory studies underway or completed at the time of accelerated approval. Statutory changes are forcing companies to prioritize confirmatory trials earlier than in the past.
International interest in fast-track regulatory reliance and collaboration pathways such as Project Orbis and the ACCESS Consortium has grown in recent years, a trend that looks set to continue in 2024. But some policy experts have warned that faster approvals are not always better, with one academic claiming the bar for marketing authorizations has dropped “far too low.”
The Federal Trade Commission blocked or restricted several deals last year, broadening what it considers to be anticompetitive transactions. Stakeholders are looking to see if the agency will bring similar cases this year and what remedies it will seek to allow deals to go forward.