Ophthalmic

Patients in the ICU continue to die from SARS-CoV-2-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome, says InflaRx, which is one of companies whose product the European Medicines Agency today announced should be approved for marketing in the EU.

The European Medicines Agency’s human medicines committee is meeting this week due to decide whether or not to back pan-EU marketing approval for a number of new drugs.

Up to 40,000 people could be set to access Outlook Therapeutics’ Lytenava in England, according to health technology assessment institute NICE, which found the drug for wet age-related macular degeneration had similar health benefits to aflibercept and ranibizumab, and similar costs to aflibercept.

Medtech Insight spoke with Vicky Demas, CEO of Identifeye, about plans for bringing the company’s AI-powered retinal screening system for early detection of diabetic retinopathy to primary care facilities. More than 50% of the roughly 38 million Americans who have diabetes skip retinal screenings at present, increasing risk of developing the leading cause of blindness in adults.

The company is developing the drug as a way to reduce injection burden for wet AMD patients and plans to meet with the US FDA early next year to discuss Phase IIb topline results.

Regenerative Processing replaces nozzle to prevent backflow for its Regener-Eyes drops but FDA warning states numerous questions about sterility at the firm’s plant and about its procedures and systems for preventing microbial contamination.

After launching Retaine MGD Advanced, OcuSoft says a release by Bruder Healthcare referenced Retaine MGD trademark and statements from a previous OcuSoft announcement about the original product attributed to an optometrist. B+L, Rohto brand and homeopathic firm Relief Products also make US OTC eye care space moves.

This week, Establishment Labs Holdings announced the FDA gave it premarket approval for Motiva breast implant, Cologuard lands FDA approval for Cologuard Plus and GE HealthCare gets FDA nod for a new imaging agent. The FDA announces another expansion for TAP into ophthalmology and radiology. The AAMI and CTA will join forces to develop standards for AI and ML-enabled health care products.  

The dual agonist of the FP and EP3 receptors has shown efficacy in a Japanese Phase III trial and completed its US Phase II study, which aligns with the Japanese firm’s global expansion strategy for glaucoma products.

The European Medicines Agency has recommended the pan-EU approval of three rare disease drugs: Pfizer’s Hympavzi, Henlius Biotech’s Hetronify and ImmunoGen’s Elahere in addition to five other new medicines.