It’s been a dif­fi­cult few years for gene and cell ther­a­py start­up Abeona Ther­a­peu­tics. Its new­ly crowned chief Carsten Thiel was forced out last year fol­low­ing ac­cu­sa­tions of un­spec­i­fied “per­son­al mis­con­duct,” and this Sep­tem­ber, the FDA im­posed a clin­i­cal hold on its ther­a­py for a form of “but­ter­fly” dis­ease. But things are be­gin­ning to perk up. On Mon­day, the com­pa­ny said the reg­u­la­tor had lift­ed its hold and the ex­per­i­men­tal ther­a­py is now set to be eval­u­at­ed in a late-stage study.

Carsten Thiel

The ther­a­py, EB-101, is be­ing de­vel­oped to treat re­ces­sive dy­s­troph­ic epi­der­mol­y­sis bul­losa, which is caused by the de­fi­cien­cy of the pro­tein COL7 and for which there is no ap­proved ther­a­py. Abeona’s au­tol­o­gous ther­a­py in­volves trans­fer­ring COL7A1 genes in­to a pa­tient’s own skin cells, fol­low­ing which the cells are trans­plant­ed back in­to the pa­tient to en­able nor­mal Type VII col­la­gen ex­pres­sion and wound heal­ing.

Ear­ly Phase I/II da­ta show that EB-101 was safe and in­duced durable wound heal­ing with up to five years of fol­lowup, and Type VII col­la­gen ex­pres­sion was ob­served more than two years af­ter treat­ment. How­ev­er, in Sep­tem­ber, the FDA im­posed a hold on the pro­gram, ask­ing for ad­di­tion­al da­ta points on the “trans­port sta­bil­i­ty of EB-101 to clin­i­cal sites.”

The com­pa­ny, which al­so said it was re­view­ing ‘strate­gic op­tions’ in re­sponse to in­ter­est ear­li­er this year, now ex­pects to kick off the late-stage VI­ITAL study in the first quar­ter of 2020. The tri­al is ex­pect­ed to en­roll 10 to 15 pa­tients, with rough­ly 30 chron­ic wound sites. The main end­point of the study is the pro­por­tion of wounds with greater than 50% heal­ing at three months, com­par­ing treat­ed with un­treat­ed wound sites on the same pa­tient.

Abeona’s shares $ABEO jumped more than 9% to $3.28 in ear­ly Mon­day trad­ing.

Epi­der­mol­y­sis bul­losa (EB) is a group of ge­net­ic skin con­di­tions that cause the skin to blis­ter and tear due to min­i­mal con­tact — in­fants born with the dis­ease are called ‘but­ter­fly chil­dren’ as their skin is con­sid­ered as frag­ile as a wing of a but­ter­fly.

In April, Cas­tle Creek swooped to part­ner with the em­bat­tled gene and cell ther­a­py Fi­bro­cell to shep­herd its lead gene ther­a­py for re­ces­sive dy­s­troph­ic epi­der­mol­y­sis bul­losa in­to late-stage de­vel­op­ment. Months lat­er, the New Jer­sey-based der­ma­tol­ogy com­pa­ny ac­quired its part­ner in a deal worth $63.3 mil­lion.

The FDA on Tuesday released a warning letter sent earlier this month to the Mason, OH-based site of Procter & Gamble Manufactura, raising questions about the list of ingredients on the label and in the electronic filing.

The warning says that for P&G’s over-the-counter Vicks Nyquil Severe Hot Remedy Cold and Flu Plus Congestion, there’s a “mismatched” list of active ingredients between the labeling and the electronic listing file. The listing file for the active ingredients did not match the active ingredients in the electronic file.

The Federal Trade Commission has gotten involved in a patent feud over Supernus’ Parkinson’s drug Apokyn, a case the agency said may have ‘‘significant implications” for patients who rely on the drug.

Sage Chemical won the first generic approval for its Apokyn formulation (also known as apomorphine hydrochloride injection) back in 2022. The non-ergoline dopamine agonist is approved to treat Parkinson’s symptoms during “off episodes,” such as difficulty moving, tremors and intense cramping. However, regulators specified that the approval pertained to the generic drug cartridges only, not the injector pen required for administration.