Chiesi Group’s Filsuvez is the second drug to win FDA approval for epidermolysis bullosa and the first for junctional EB, a more severe form of the rare skin disease. The birch tree bark-derived drug is from Chiesi’s $1.25 billion Amryt Pharma acquisition. By FRANK VINLUAN The rare inherited disorder epidermolysis bullosa, or EB, leads to skin so fragile that it tears like tissue paper. The resulting wounds and blisters are slow to heal and prone to infection. On Tuesday, the FDA approved a Chiesi Group drug developed to promote faster wound healing in EB patients. Privately held Chiesi will market its new drug as Filsuvez, the same brand name for the product in Europe, where it won its first regulatory approval last year. The FDA decision for this topical gel covers the treatment of patients age six months and older. EB stems from a mutation to the gene that codes ...
Despite bluebird bio winning a recent FDA nod for its much-anticipated sickle cell disease gene therapy Lyfgenia, the regulatory triumph left something to be desired for the company because the agency didn’t grant a lucrative priority review voucher (PRV). That came as a surprise to bluebird, which had previously inked a deal to sell a potential PRV to Novartis for $103 million. Now, bluebird is hurrying to raise millions of dollars—through two separate avenues—to fund the launch of its new sickle cell disease gene therapy and others. In one fundraising approach, bluebird said it reached an agreement to hand over future gene therapy revenues to Alterna Capital Solutions in exchange for up-front funding. The deal covers a maximum credit of $100 million for bluebird, the company said in an SEC filing (PDF). Additionally, bluebird is working with Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Securities to sell $150 million in new shares. ...
Dive Brief Glaukos Corporation received Food and Drug Administration approval for a drug-releasing implant that is designed to reduce intraocular pressure in patients with ocular hypertension or open-angle glaucoma. The implant was approved for single administration per eye. The device continuously delivers a formulation of travoprost, an established treatment for high pressure in the eye, to provide patients with an alternative to eye drops and remove the risk that noncompliance with the treatment regimen will affect outcomes. Glaukos failed to secure approval for repeat dosing but plans to work with the FDA to change the label. The wholesale acquisition cost (WAC) is $13,950 per dose, or implant, well above analysts’ expectations. William Blair analysts estimated the price would fall in a range of from $3,000 to $4,000 per implant, while BTIG analysts said they modeled a price of $5,000. Dive Insight Glaukos expects to generate up to $310 million in ...
Pharmaceutical Executive Editorial Staff In clinical trials, Padcev (enfortumab vedotin-ejfv) plus Keytruda (pembrolizumab) produced a statistically significant improvement in survival compared to platinum-based chemotherapy alone in patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer. Image credit: Olivier Le Moal | stock.adobe.com The FDA has approved Padcev (enfortumab vedotin-ejfv; Astellas Pharma and Seagen [now owned by Pfizer]) plus Keytruda (pembrolizumab; Merck) for patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer (la/mUC).1 The FDA previously granted the application with priority review and breakthrough designation. The efficacy of the combination was evaluated in the open-label, randomized EV-302/KN-A39 (NCT04223856) trial, which enrolled 886 patients with la/mUC who received no prior systemic therapy for advanced disease. Patients were randomly assigned 1:1 to receive either Padcev with Keytruda or platinum-based chemotherapy consisting of gemcitabine with either cisplatin or carboplatin. The trial’s major efficacy outcomes were overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) as assessed by blinded ...
Since Merck secured approval for kidney cancer pill and blockbuster hopeful Welireg (belzutifan) in August of 2021, sales have grown slowly but surely. With a second FDA nod on Thursday for a much larger patient population, the company can anticipate a more pronounced upswing in revenue from the hypoxia-inducible factor-2 alpha (HIF-2a) inhibitor. The U.S. regulator has given a thumbs up for Welireg to treat relapsed or refractory renal cell carcinoma (RCC) for adult patients who have not responded to a PD-1 or PD-L1 inhibitor and who have also been treated with a vascular endothelial growth factor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (VEGF-TK1). Welireg becomes the first drug in its class for patients with advanced RCC and the first novel-class treatment in the indication since 2015, Merck noted. The nod comes on top of its original approval to treat the rare von Hippel-Lindau disease, a hereditary condition that causes tumor growth in ...
About a year after Arcutis Biotherapeutics unveiled positive data on roflumilast foam at the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology congress 2022, the company has clinched a second FDA OK. Late Friday, Arcutis’ roflumilast—now approved in both cream and foam form under the brand name Zoryve—passed muster with U.S. regulators to treat seborrheic dermatitis in patients ages 9 and older. Arcutis has previously estimated there are more than 10 million people in the U.S. with seborrheic dermatitis, which causes red patches on the skin covered with large, flaking scales and a persistent itch. The disease most often affects parts of the body with oil-producing glands, such as the scalp, face, upper chest and back. Back in July 2022, roflumilast’s cream formulation won the company’s first approval in plaque psoriasis. In both its forms, roflumilast targets phosphodiesterase-4 (PDE4), an intracellular enzyme that boosts production of pro-inflammatory mediators and decreases production of ...
Abbisko Therapeutics Co., Ltd.(Abbisko Therapeutics) today announced that its CSF-1R inhibitor pimicotinib(ABSK021) has been granted the fast track designation (FTD) by the U.S. FDA for the treatment of tenosynovial giant cell tumor (TGCT) patients that are not amenable to surgery. Previously, pimicotinib was granted the breakthrough therapy designation (BTD) by the U.S. FDAfor TGCT in January, 2023.The grant of FTD and BTD will accelerate the global development and commercialization of pimicotinib. Fast Track is a policy designed to facilitate the development and expedite the review of drugs in order to treat serious conditions and fulfill unmet medical needs. Its purpose is to get important new drugs to patients earlier. Moreover, the FTD enables companies to maintain more frequent communications and meetings with the U.S.FDA. The drug also becomes eligible for accelerated approval and priority review by the U.S.FDA. In early December, Abbisko entered into an agreement with Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, ...
While existing neuroblastoma treatments can help patients achieve remission, sustaining that remission has proven tricky. But now, patients and doctors have a new oral option. This week, the U.S. FDA approved US WorldMeds’ (USWM) Iwilfin—also known as eflornithine—as a new oral maintenance therapy for high-risk neuroblastoma. The drug, cleared in 192 mg tablets, is indicated to cut the risk of relapse in kids and adults with high-risk neuroblastoma who’ve had at least a partial response to prior multiagent, multimodality treatment, USWM said in a press release. Between 700 and 800 cases of neuroblastoma are diagnosed in the U.S. each year, according to the American Cancer Society. Ninety percent of diagnoses occur before a patient is 5 years old and more than 50% of neuroblastoma cases are classified as high-risk. Approximately half of children with high-risk neuroblastoma don’t live more than five years past their diagnosis, USWM added. Avoiding relapse is ...
Last month, Bristol Myers Squibb made the surprise announcement that the FDA will convene an advisory committee meeting to discuss the company’s bid to move the CAR-T therapy Abecma into earlier lines of treatment. Now, we know at least one reason why the FDA wants more opinions on the application. Abecma showed no advantage in extending patients’ lives compared with standard combination regimens when used in multiple myeloma patients after two to four prior lines of therapy, according to an updated interim analysis of the phase 3 KarMMa-3 trial presented at the 65th American Society of Hematology annual meeting. The statistical analysis revealed a negligible 1% increased risk of death for Abecma. But median overall survival looks better for Abecma, as patients lived a median of 41.4 months versus 37.9 months for control. The lack of an overall survival showing came in stark contrast to the 51% reduction in the ...
Novartis drug iptacopan, which won its first FDA approval in early December in a rare blood disorder, has met the main goal of a pivotal test in an ultra-rare kidney disease. The small molecule’s potential to address many diseases has stirred up blockbuster expectations. By FRANK VINLUAN The blockbuster potential for new Novartis drug iptacopan rests on the molecule’s ability to reach many diseases. The drug is on the way to its first one, following a recent FDA approval in a rare blood disorder. Now Novartis has data in a different rare disease with no approved treatment options. The Swiss pharmaceutical giant says these results could support regulatory submissions in 2024. While Novartis has said iptacopan could achieve peak sales topping $3 billion, the company has provided no breakdown of that projection by indication. The results announced Monday are from a Phase 3 test of iptacopan in C3 glomerulopathy (C3G), ...
Go to Page Go
your submission has already been received.
OK
Please enter a valid Email address!
Submit
The most relevant industry news & insight will be sent to you every two weeks.