Law professors call for FDA to disclose all safety and efficacy data for drugs

April 21, 2021 01:23 PM EDTUpdated 01:44 PM

Law professors call for FDA to disclose all safety and efficacy data for drugs

Zachary Brennan

Senior Editor

Back in early 2018 when Scott Gottlieb led the FDA, there was a moment when the agency seemed poised to release redacted complete response letters and other previously undisclosed data. But that initiative never gained steam.

Now, a growing chorus of researchers are finding that a dearth of public data on clinical trials and pharmaceuticals means industry and the FDA cannot be held accountable, two law professors from Yale and New York University write in an article published Wednesday in the California Law Review.

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Biotech and Big Pharma: A blueprint for a successful partnership

Noël Brown

Managing Director and Head of US Biotechnology Investment Banking

Strategic partnerships have long been an important contributor to how drugs are discovered and developed. For decades, big pharma companies have been forming alliances with biotech innovators to increase R&D productivity, expand geographical reach and better manage late-stage commercialization costs.

Noël Brown, Managing Director and Head of Biotechnology Investment Banking, and Greg Wiederrecht, Ph.D., Managing Director in the Global Healthcare Investment Banking Group at RBC Capital Markets, are no strangers to the importance of these tie-ups. Noël has over 20 years of investment banking experience in the industry. Before moving to the banking world in 2015, Greg was the Vice President and Head of External Scientific Affairs (ESA) at Merck, where he was responsible for the scientific assessment of strategic partnership opportunities worldwide.

October 25, 2021 06:32 AM EDTUpdated 07:01 AM

R&D

Novartis' second attempt to replicate a stunning cancer result falls flat

Jason Mast

Editor

Novartis’ hopes of turning one of the most surprising trial data points of the last decade into a lung cancer drug has taken another setback.

The Swiss pharma announced Monday that its IL-1 inhibitor canakinumab did not significantly extend the lives or slow the disease progression of patients with previously untreated locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer when compared to standard of-care alone.

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Sean Ianchulev, Eyenovia CEO and CMO

October 25, 2021 10:14 AM EDT

Pharma

FDA+

Recent court decision pushes FDA to reject and reclassify drug-device combo, crushing shares

Zachary Brennan

Senior Editor

Back in April, the FDA lost a crucial court case in which its broad discretion of regulating medical products that might satisfy the legal definitions of either “drug” and/or “medical device” was sharply curtailed.

In addition to the appeals court ruling that Genus Medical Technologies’ contrast agent barium sulfate (aka Vanilla SilQ) should not be considered a drug, as the FDA had initially ruled, but as a medical device, the agency also was forced to spell out which drugs would transition to devices as a result of the ruling.

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Robert Califf (Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP Images, File)

October 25, 2021 11:25 AM EDT

FDA+

As buzz on Califf FDA nom heats up, industry and agency insiders offer a strong nod for the ‘perfect’ choice

Zachary Brennan

Senior Editor

For once in this long, dramatic road to finding a new FDA commissioner, there’s been some continuity. Both CNN and Politico reported this weekend that Rob Califf met with President Biden to discuss the permanent commish role, following earlier news broken by the Washington Post that all signs point to Califf.

Although there may be a few Democrats who continue to grandstand about the dangers of COI (Califf has worked for Verily, sits on the board of Centessa Pharmaceuticals, and has other ties to industry research), with the pandemic ongoing and the need for some kind of continuity at FDA mounting, Califf is likely to meet the same fate as when he first won Senate confirmation in 2016, by a vote of 89-4 — Bernie Sanders and 6 others didn’t vote.

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AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot (Raphael Lafargue/Abaca/Sipa USA)

October 25, 2021 10:18 AM EDTUpdated 11:17 AM

Pharma

A combo of AstraZeneca's Imfinzi and chemo wins where others have failed in pivotal biliary tract test

Kyle Blankenship

Managing Editor

Looking to run with the big dogs in the PD-(L)1 class, AstraZeneca’s Imfinzi has a tall hill to climb to compete in an increasingly bustling market. An aggressive combo strategy for the drug has paid off so far, and now AstraZeneca is adding another notch to its belt.

A combo of Imfinzi (durvalumab) and chemotherapy significantly extended the lives of first-line patients with advanced biliary tract cancer over chemo alone, according to topline results from the Phase III TOPAZ-1 study revealed Monday.

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October 22, 2021 08:00 AM EDTUpdated 03:32 PM

FDA+

UPDATED: Agenus calls out FDA for playing favorites with Merck, pulls cervical cancer BLA at agency's request

Zachary Brennan

Senior Editor

While criticizing the FDA for what may be some favoritism towards Merck, Agenus on Friday officially pulled its accelerated BLA for its anti-PD-1 inhibitor balstilimab as a potential second-line treatment for cervical cancer because of the recent full approval for Merck’s Keytruda in the same indication.

The company said the BLA, which was due for an FDA decision by Dec. 16, was withdrawn “when the window for accelerated approval of balstilimab closed,” thanks to the conversion of Keytruda’s accelerated approval to a full approval four months prior to its PDUFA date.

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October 21, 2021 11:09 AM EDTUpdated October 22, 04:34 PM

FDA+

How to collect and submit RWD to win approval for a new drug indication: FDA spells it out in a long-awaited guidance

Zachary Brennan

Senior Editor

Real-world data are messy. There can be differences in the standards used to collect different types of data, differences in terminologies and curation strategies, and even in the way data are exchanged.

While acknowledging this somewhat controlled chaos, the FDA is now explaining how biopharma companies can submit study data derived from real-world data (RWD) sources in applicable regulatory submissions, including new drug indications.

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October 25, 2021 10:29 AM EDTUpdated 10:39 AM

Pharma

Simmering feud between bluebird and a rival continues with allegations of patent fraud

Josh Sullivan

Associate Editor

Bluebird bio was hit with a patent infringement lawsuit last week from a Chicago-based biotech it has had an ongoing beef with calling for $2 billion to help cure the “irreparable harm” caused by alleged willful infringement.

Bluebird bio is facing a lawsuit from Errant Gene Therapeutics for violating patent law in two instances, the company says.

The suit alleges that bluebird infringed the rights of EGT’s recombinant vectors used in the gene therapy treatment of rare diseases such as sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia for its drugs Zynteglo and LentiGlobin. EGT has an exclusive license from the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to patents titled “vector encoding human global gene and use thereof in treatment of Hemoglobinopathies.”

October 25, 2021 07:33 AM EDT

FDA+

Just as first Lucentis biosimilar wins approval, Roche snags an OK for an easier route of administration

Nicole DeFeudis

Editor

It’s been a month since the FDA cleared the first biosimilar to Roche’s blockbuster wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) drug ranibizumab. But the pharma giant isn’t going down without a fight.

Roche’s Genentech got approval on Friday for a new ranibizumab administration route that will allow wet AMD patients to ditch their current monthly injections and opt instead for as few as twice-annual treatments.