Dive Brief Megadyne’s recall of electrode pads was classified by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a Class I event due to the risk of serious burn injuries, the agency said in a Tuesday notice. Megadyne contacted customers last month after receiving reports of burns linked to its reusable electrode pads. The problem, which can cause third-degree burns, has been linked to 63 injuries and no deaths. The Class I recall covers 21,200 MEGA 2000 and MEGA Soft reusable electrodes sold in the U.S. In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for J&J wrote that the notification was not a product removal, and Mega Soft pads may continue to be used. Dive Insight Megadyne is a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon segment that makes tools used in electrosurgery, procedures that involve the use of electric current to heat or cut tissue or to stop bleeding. The ...
Anti-inflammatory drugs may reduce deaths due to Covid-19, but they do not help speed up the recovery for those in hospital, according to a recent study. Results from s study, published in The Journal of the American Medical Association, demonstrated that giving abatacept, cenicriviroc, or Johnson and Johnson’s Remicade (infliximab) in addition to standard of care did not decrease time to recovery for patients hospitalised with Covid-19 pneumonia. The standard of care included in this study involved Gilead Sciences’ Veklury (remdesivir) and the corticosteroid dexamethasone. Patients who took either one of the three drugs recovered after a similar number of days compared to those who were on placebo. The investigators also measured mortality across the sub-studies by day 28 – which did show slight differences, though not statistically significant. Abatacept and Remicade led to a narrow decrease in patient deaths – a 4.1% and 4.4% difference respectively, whilst ...
Swiss-based Novartis announced that the US District Court for the District of Delaware has invalidated the patent covering its cardiac drug Entresto, which expires on 15 July 2025 with the associated paediatric exclusivity. The company said it will now appeal to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) to further pursue the efforts to validate the combination patent around Entresto. A combination of sacubitril and valsartan, Entresto was first approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat heart failure with reduced ejection fraction in July 2015. It is also approved to treat symptomatic heart failure with systemic left ventricular systolic dysfunction in pediatric patients. Apart from the patent which was adjudicated by the District Court, additional patents for the combinations of sacubitril and valsartan, including the drug forms and dosages, are listed to expire from November 2026 to May 2036. ...
Novavax has announced that its COVID-19 vaccine, Nuvaxovid, has been granted full marketing authorisation in the EU. The vaccine is now fully authorised for use as a primary series in individuals aged 12 and older for COVID-19 prevention and as a booster dose in adults aged 18 and older, the company said. Novavax’s protein-based vaccine, which was originally granted a conditional marketing authorisation in the EU for these indications, contains the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and Matrix-M adjuvant to enhance immune response and stimulate high levels of neutralising antibodies. The European Commission’s latest decision follows a recommendation by the European Medicines Agency’s human medicines committee earlier this year and is supported by positive results from the phase 3 PREVENT trial that evaluated the safety, immunogenicity, and efficacy of Nuvaxovid. John Jacobs, president and chief executive officer of Novavax, said: “This marketing authorisation establishes the foundation for all ...
After a Delaware federal court ruled a Novartis combination patent on big-selling cardiovascular drug Entresto is invalid, the company pledged to continue its efforts to block generics with an appeal. The combination patent, which includes an extension thanks to a pediatric exclusivity award, is set to expire in July of 2025. Other patents on the drug run until 2026, 2027 and 2036. Now, Novartis will head to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) in an effort to reverse the decision, the company said in a recent statement. The company will “continue to defend” its Entresto patents “vigorously” and warned that any generics that launch before the outcome of the appeal “may be at risk” of litigation. Currently, there are no Entresto copycats with tentative or official FDA approvals, the company noted. Just last week, the company chalked up a win against Mylan when a West Virginia court ruled that the ...
Pictured: Novo Nordisk building in California/iStock, hapabapa Thursday, Novo Nordisk filed legal complaints against three pharmacies in Florida and one in Tennessee for allegedly selling products that contain semaglutide, the active compound in the company’s best-selling weight-loss and diabetes drugs Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus, Bloomberg reported. Novo filed three separate lawsuits in Florida federal court, targeting three compounding pharmacies: WellHealth, TruLife Pharmacy and Brooksville Pharmaceuticals. A fourth lawsuit was filed in Tennessee against DCA Pharmacy. The Danish drugmaker is asking the courts to block these pharmacies from marketing their semaglutide-containing products and is seeking unspecified financial damages. This latest round of lawsuits comes two weeks after Novo sent out a barrage of legal complaints against wellness and weight loss clinics, medical spas and other compounding pharmacies, also claiming that these businesses were selling products containing semaglutide. Semaglutide is a peptide that mimics the GLP-1 hormone to active its counterpart receptor. In turn, this induces the pancreas to secrete ...
Sales of the Alzheimer’s drug Leqembi may be slow initially due to logistical requirements but could pick up in 2024, analysts said after the groundbreaking treatment won approval in the U.S. Wall Street is chewing over the Food and Drug Administration’s Thursday approval of Leqembi – a milestone in the treatment of the disease, even though the drug isn’t a cure. Leqembi, from drugmakers Eisai and Biogen, is the first medicine proven to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s in people at the early stages of the memory-robbing disease. Medicare on Thursday announced it is now covering the antibody treatment for patients enrolled in the insurance program for seniors, broadening access for those who can’t afford the drug’s hefty $26,500-a-year price tag. But coverage comes with several conditions. Analysts believe certain Medicare requirements and new guidance on Leqembi’s prescription label could potentially weigh on sales of the ...
As demand skyrockets for GLP-1 drugs that can trigger significant weight loss, unauthorized versions of the treatments have started to fill pharmacies. In late May, the FDA warned of illegal knockoffs of Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy. Now, five weeks later, the Danish company has filed its second wave of lawsuits against pharmacies in the U.S. that are producing the copycats. Thursday, in federal courts in Florida and Tennessee, the company accused four companies of making compounded versions of its products that are not approved by the FDA. “Testing new drugs and obtaining the regularly acquired regulatory approval to sell them are time-consuming and very costly,” Novo said in its complaints. “Ignoring drug-approval requirements provides defendant an unfair competitive advantage over pharmaceutical manufacturers like Novo Nordisk. Worse, it puts patients at risk by exposing them to drugs that have not been shown to be safe or effective.” The defendants are compounding ...
Cipla, which was recently hit with a 23-page Form 483 filing from the FDA, is adding to the albuterol supply strain with a U.S. recall of six batches of the asthma med.The company’s voluntary recall of albuterol sulfate inhalation aerosol is a result of a container defect, Cipla said in a filing with the Bombay Stock Exchange. Specifically, a market complaint flagged leakage in one inhaler, the company said. The leak was spotted in the inhaler valve, leading Cipla to pull all of the lots of the drug that used that same batch of valves from U.S. shelves. The company made the move “out of an abundance of caution,” it noted in the release. The lots were manufactured in November of 2021 and expire this November. “Cipla maintains stringent quality processes to assess quality defects and safety issues,” the company said in the filing. “Cipla conducts regular investigation and assessment by committees consisting ...
US-based Novavax received its first full marketing authorisation for its Covid-19 vaccine Nuvaxovid (NVX-CoV2373) in the EU. Nuvaxovid is now fully authorised as a primary series vaccine for general Covid-19 prevention for individuals aged 12 years and older and as a booster dose in adults aged 18 years and older. The approval follows a positive opinion from the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) in May 2023, surrounding the vaccine’s full approval. The full authorisation comes a few years after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) granted the prophylactic a conditional marketing authorisation, in December 2021. At the time, Nuvaxovid was the fifth vaccine recommended for Covid-19 prevention in the EU. Novavax has authorised its vaccine in more than 40 markets worldwide. Nuvaxovid is a novel Matrix-M adjuvant protein-based vaccine that has received a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) emergency use authorisation but has not yet received full ...
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