The “industry-wide review of accelerated approvals” that’s been making waves in the checkpoint field has reached Roche.

With prodding from the FDA, the Swiss pharma giant says it’s pulling a bladder cancer indication for Tecentriq in the US — more than three years after it conceded a stunning failure in the original confirmatory study.

Like his counterparts at Bristol Myers Squibb, AstraZeneca and Merck, all of which have disclosed withdrawals in recent weeks, Roche R&D chief Levi Garraway praised the accelerated approval program and highlighted the PD-L1 drug’s benefits in other cancer types despite the “disappointing” decision.

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AstraZeneca’s first consumer ad for Evusheld is also a first for drugs that have been granted emergency use authorizations during the pandemic.

The first DTC ad for a medicine under emergency approval, the Evusheld campaign launching this week aims to raise awareness among immunocompromised patients — and spur more use.

Evusheld nabbed emergency authorization in December, however, despite millions of immunocompromised people looking for a solution and now more widespread availability of the drug.

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The EMA’s human medicines committee on Friday recommended three new drugs for approval or conditional approval, even as their US counterparts have rejected these three for various reasons.

In a major move, CHMP offered a thumbs-up to a conditional marketing authorization for the first gene therapy to treat severe hemophilia A, although the agency cautioned that it’s so far unknown how long the effects of infusion will last.

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Joe Papa, chair of Bausch Health, officially resigned on Thursday and the board appointed billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson as the new chair, effective immediately.

The specialty pharma company sought to make clear that Papa’s abrupt departure “was not due to any dispute or disagreement with the Company, its management or the Board on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices.”

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Sarepta Therapeutics’ next-gen Duchenne muscular dystrophy drug has been hit with a clinical hold after investigators flagged a serious case of low magnesium levels in one patient’s blood.

Screening and dosing will be halted in what is known as Part B of the Phase II MOMENTUM study, which has enrolled about half of the planned patients. Sarepta said it will be submitting information on all cases of the condition, known as hypomagnesemia, per the FDA’s request and proposing some changes to the risk mitigation and safety monitoring plan.

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