If Novartis learned one thing from its interaction with the FDA over its latest heart failure approval for Entresto, it was that missing a primary endpoint may not be the nail in the coffin. Now, Entresto has missed again on a late-stage study in high-risk heart patients, and it’s already sowing the seeds for a path forward regardless.

Novartis’ Entresto couldn’t best standard-of-care ramipril in staving off a composite of deaths and heart failure events in patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction and/or pulmonary congestion who have had a prior heart attack, according to topline data from the Phase III PARADISE-MI study revealed Saturday at the virtual American College of Cardiology meeting.

The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority is cooling its jets in looking for new, potential Covid-19 treatments, at least in the near term.

An HHS spokesperson told Endpoints News via email, “to date, BARDA has obligated more than $9 billion for the development and/or purchase of 13 therapeutics, beginning in February 2020 with support to develop Regeneron’s monoclonal antibody therapeutic. Therapeutics are an important element of the COVID-19 response, and we are focused on the programs currently underway and/or in negotiation using the funds available to us.”

When Bristol Myers Squibb signed off on its $13 billion acquisition of MyoKardia back in October, it was making a big bet that lead drug mavacamten could prove a game changer in cardiac myopathy. Now, with the drug up for FDA review, Bristol Myers is backing up its case with new quality of life data.

Patients dosed with myosin inhibitor mavacamten posted a clinically significant increase in scores on the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire, a catch-all summary of symptoms and quality of life markers, over placebo at 30 weeks, according to data from the Phase III EXPLORER-HCM study presented Saturday at the virtual American College of Cardiology meeting.

The FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee will spend a half day on June 24 reviewing Incyte’s PD-(L)1 inhibitor retifanlimab as a treatment for locally advanced or metastatic squamous carcinoma of the anal canal (SCAC) for those who have progressed on or who are intolerant of platinum-based chemotherapy.

The eighth PD-(L)1 entrant in January nabbed a priority review and an orphan designation from the FDA, which sets the agency’s final decision date as July 25.

With an aim to reduce the use of opioids in the post-op setting, Heron Therapeutics on Thursday announced that it finally won FDA approval — after two prior CRLs — for its long-lasting local anesthetic, which is a combination of bupivacaine and the NSAID meloxicam.

Heron will price the drug, known commercially as Zynrelef, somewhere between 22% and 28% less than its direct competitor, Pacira Biosciences’ Exparel (bupivacaine liposome injectable suspension), Heron CEO Barry Quart told Endpoints News in an interview.