EMA OKs two new drugs — J&J's BC­MA CAR-T for mul­ti­ple myelo­ma, As­traZeneca's Evusheld — plus 5 la­bel ex­pan­sions

The Eu­ro­pean Med­i­cines Agency’s CHMP on Fri­day rec­om­mend­ed two new drugs for ap­proval, As­traZeneca’s Evusheld to help pre­vent Covid-19, and John­son & John­son’s new BC­MA CAR-T fourth-line treat­ment for mul­ti­ple myelo­ma.

Ap­proved in the US about four weeks ago, J&J and Leg­end’s new drug, sold as Carvyk­ti, will ri­val BMS and blue­bird bio’s BC­MA CAR-T Abec­ma, al­though Leg­end and Janssen say some long-term da­ta sug­gest they may have an ad­van­tage. While in the EU the Com­mis­sion still needs to sign off on Carvyk­ti for full ap­proval, the CAR-T is launch­ing in the US at $465,000, ac­cord­ing to Scott White, J&J’s com­pa­ny group chair­man of North Amer­i­ca phar­ma­ceu­ti­cals — which is high­er than Abec­ma’s $419,500 price tag.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.

SIGN UP LOG IN BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER