The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has found no misconduct by contract research organisation (CRO) Care Access in Pfizer and French partner Valneva’s Lyme disease vaccine trial. The FDA did not issue a Form 483 – a document sent to a company indicating violations after an inspection. The outcome comes after a nine-day for-cause FDA Good Clinical Practices (GCP) inspection into sites managed by Care Access in Pfizer’s VALOR trial. The inspection reviewed Care Access’s contributions to the trial, including GCP requirements, patient safety and data integrity, the CRO said in an 11 October statement. Care Access CEO Ahmad Namvargolian said in a company statement: “We’re very glad to have had the opportunity finally to undergo this independent, searching review by an FDA expert, which confirmed what we’ve always said about our performance on the VALOR trial and beyond.” In February 2023, Pfizer and Valneva announced it was halting ...
After the FDA passed on an approval for mirikizumab in ulcerative colitis earlier this year because of manufacturing shortfalls, the Eli Lilly drug is gaining new momentum with a win in a phase 3 Crohn’s disease study. The interleukin-23p19 antagonist achieved both primary endpoints and all of its major secondary endpoints in the VIVID-1 study, Lilly said in a Thursday release. The trial results will serve as the basis of regulatory submissions in the disease next year, the company added. In the study, Lilly’s drug helped 54.1% of participants achieve clinical remission at week 52, compared with 19.6% for those on placebo. However, the drug couldn’t prove superiority in the endoscopic response measure when pitted against Johnson & Johnson’s star immunosuppressant Stelara (ustekinumab). Still, mirikizumab’s results were “numerically higher” than its J&J counterpart, Lilly said. Lilly will pursue approval in Crohn’s in 2024, when it will submit a marketing application ...
KYV-101 designed as a CD19 CAR T-cell therapy. Image Credit: Adobe Stock Images/Trsakaoe Kyverna Therapeutics revealed in a company press release that FDA has approved an investigational new drug (IND) application for KYV-101 for the treatment of scleroderma. It marks the third IND clearance for the drug candidate. Reportedly, this will result in a multicenter study of KYV-101, an autologous fully human anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy for the treatment of diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (scleroderma). “We are immensely proud of being able to bring KYV-101 to patients suffering from scleroderma,” said Peter Maag, PhD, CEO, Kyverna Therapeutics. “We are keen to initiate our KYSA-5 trial in this new patient population and generate data to support our KYV-101 design goals. With the deep B cell depletion from KYV-101 treatment, patients with scleroderma may have a full reset of their immune system to stop the vicious cycle of their ...
What doctors described as a “messy” treatment landscape in early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) could get clearer thanks to a first-in-class overall survival win from Merck & Co.’s Keytruda. Using Keytruda both before and after surgery significantly extended the lives of patients with stage 2 to 3b NSCLC in a phase 3 trial, Merck said Tuesday. The Keytruda regimen was pitted against presurgical chemo alone, while Keytruda recipients also received chemotherapy before surgery. The Keynote-671 trial marks the first time an immunotherapy has shown a statistically significant overall survival benefit for certain patients with early-stage NSCLC, Marjorie Green, M.D., head of late-stage oncology development at Merck Research Laboratories, said in a statement. The positive readout comes right before the FDA is expected to decide—by Monday—on Keytruda’s perioperative use as a continuous neoadjuvant-plus-adjuvant therapy in early-stage NSCLC. The trial previously met its other dual primary endpoint, showing Keytruda could reduce ...
BY SEAN WHOOLEY [Image courtesy of DePuy Synthes] Johnson & Johnson MedTech announced today that its DePuy Synthes unit won FDA 510(k) clearance for two TriAltis technologies. The FDA cleared the company’s TriAltis Spine system and the TriAltis navigation-enabled instruments. TriAltis Spine is a next-generation posterior thoracolumbar pedicle screw system. It offers a comprehensive implant portfolio and advanced instrumentation for integration with enabling technology. DePuy Synthes’ TriAltis navigation-enabled instruments include drills, taps and screwdrivers. These offer manual operation or power operation for navigated and non-navigated use. The company said combining its implants with a digital ecosystem can address unmet clinical needs. Its TriAltis Spine system could help surgeons achieve more consistent outcomes in treating complex spine conditions, too. That includes degenerative tumor, trauma and deformity pathologies. DePuy Synthes built its TriAltis system on what it calls a legacy of thoracolumbar solutions and expertise. It features a “hyperfocus” on performance and ...
By Kate Goodwin Pictured: Merck headquarters/iStock, JHVEPhoto Phase III results released Tuesday showed Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy Keytruda is the first to improve overall survival when used as a neoadjuvant and adjuvant treatment versus pre-operative chemotherapy for patients with non-small cell lung cancer, according to the company’s announcement. In the KEYNOTE-671 trial, Keytruda plus chemotherapy was given to patients with resectable stage II, IIIA or IIIB non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) prior to surgery. After resection, Keytruda was administered as a single agent. While the data was not provided in Tuesday’s announcement, Merck called the trial the first Phase III to “show a statistically significant overall survival benefit for these patients with stage II, IIIA or IIIB” NSCLC. The company said results from the analysis of KEYNOTE-671 will be presented later this month at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress and shared with global regulatory authorities. Previous interim results ...
By Tristan Manalac The FDA on Friday approved an intravenous formulation of Novartis’ IL-17A antagonist Cosentyx (secukinumab) for the treatment of rheumatic diseases. This latest approval covers existing indications of Cosentyx, including ankylosing spondylitis (AS), psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (nr-axSpA). Previously, Cosentyx was only authorized as a subcutaneous treatment for these conditions. With Friday’s approval, Cosentyx has become the first intravenous (IV) treatment that specifically targets and inhibits IL-17A and currently the only non-TNF-α IV therapy for these indications, according to Novartis’ announcement. The IV route of administration will improve treatment access for “a significant portion of patients” with AS, PsA and nr-axSpA, who are not comfortable with self-injections or simply prefer to receive treatments in their healthcare provider’s office, according to Philip Mease, clinical professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine. “The approval of Cosentyx as an IV formulation is an important milestone for ...
By Tristan Manalac Pictured: Alnylam headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts/iStock, hapabapa The FDA on Monday denied approval of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals’ siRNA therapy Onpattro (patisiran) for the treatment of cardiomyopathy of transthyretin-mediated amyloidosis. In its Complete Response Letter (CRL), the regulator said that Alnylam had not provided enough evidence of the therapy’s benefit in the proposed indication. At the same time, the FDA did not flag any problems with patisiran’s clinical safety, drug quality, manufacturing processes or study conduct. “The CRL indicated that the clinical meaningfulness of patisiran’s treatment effects for the cardiomyopathy of ATTR amyloidosis had not been established,” according to the company’s announcement. In light of the rejection, Alnylam will no long work toward an expanded label for Onpattro in the U.S. Monday’s CRL runs counter to the recommendations of the FDA’s own panel of external advisers. In September 2023, the Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee voted 9-3 in ...
Cosentyx is the first intravenous formulation interleukin-17A antagonist to focus on disease. Image Credit: Adobe Stock Images/Seventyfour Novartis officially announced that the FDA approved n intravenous (IV) formulation of Cosentyx (secukinumab) for the treatment of adults with psoriatic arthritis (PsA), ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (nr-axSpA). Currently, Cosentyx is the only treatment approved in an IV formulation that specifically targets and blocks interleukin-17A (IL-17A), and the only non-tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) IV option available in all these indications. “At Novartis, we are committed to ensuring healthcare providers and patients have treatment options available to meet their unique needs. With this approval of Cosentyx as an IV formulation, along with the subcutaneous formulation, we can broaden the use of Cosentyx to help more patients manage their condition with a medicine backed by more than a decade of clinical research and eight years of real-world experience,” said Christy Siegel, ...
Despite an affirmative FDA advisory committee vote, the agency declined to approve Alnylam Pharmaceuticals’ Onpattro for treating the heart complications caused by a rare, inherited protein disorder. But Alnylam has other drugs candidates for the disease, including one expected to post Phase 3 data in the first half of 2024. By FRANK VINLUAN An Alnylam Pharmaceuticals drug developed to treat a rare disease’s potentially fatal effects on the heart has fallen short in its bid for FDA approval, costing the company a chance to immediately challenge a Pfizer product that has become a blockbuster seller in the indication. But the biotech still has another chance with a different drug in late-stage development that could offer patients a better alternative. Alnylam was seeking approval of its drug, Onpattro, as a treatment for cardiomyopathy caused by hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis (hATTR). According to the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company, the FDA’s complete response letter said ...
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