AstraZeneca’s (AZ) AKT inhibitor Truqap (capivasertib) in combination with its endocrine therapy Faslodex (fulvestrant) has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat a subset of advanced breast cancer patients. The FDA’s decision specifically applies to adults with HR-positive, HER2-negative locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer with at least one of three biomarker alterations: PIK3CA, AKT1 or PTEN. The US regulator has also approved the use of a companion diagnostic test to detect the relevant alterations. Eligible patients will have progressed on at least one endocrine-based regimen in the metastatic setting or experienced recurrence on or within 12 months of completing adjuvant therapy. Breast cancer is the most common cancer worldwide and more than 290,000 people in the US are expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023. HR-positive breast cancer is the most common subtype, with over 65% of tumours considered HR-positive and HER2-low ...
The FDA has signed off on label expansions for two of the world’s most important cancer medicines—Merck’s Keytruda and Pfizer and Astellas’ Xtandi. Keytruda’s expansion is in stomach cancer, allowing its use alongside chemotherapy to treat first-line patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic HER2-negative gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma. Xtandi’s new indication expands its already deep portfolio in the treatment of prostate cancer. It now becomes the only androgen receptor inhibitor approved by the FDA for patients with nonmetastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer (nmCSPC) with biochemical recurrence at high risk for metastasis (high-risk BCR). These patients can be treated with Xtandi with or without GnRH analog therapy. Of men who have had prostate cancer treatment, 20% to 40% will have BCR within 10 years. Of those with high-risk BCR, 90% will develop metastatic disease, with one in three dying. The nod was backed up by the phase 3 EMBARK ...
The most common type of breast cancer now has a new targeted treatment: an AstraZeneca drug that’s first in a new class of therapies addressing a certain genetic signature. But the new approval is narrower than expected, which limits the total addressable market for the therapy. The FDA approved the new drug, capivastertib, for use in combination with fulvestrant, an older AstraZeneca breast cancer therapy. The new drug will be marketed under the brand name Truqap. Approval of Truqap covers the treatment of adults with advanced cases of breast cancer classified as HR positive and HER2 negative. Those patients must also have disease that has either progressed after treatment with a hormone therapy or has come back after adjuvant therapy. Truqap joins a group of therapies already available for HR positive, HER2 negative breast cancer, including products from AstraZeneca. Truqap stands apart from them as the first AKT inhibitor. AKT ...
Dive Brief The Food and Drug Administration has authorized the first chlamydia and gonorrhea test with at-home sample collection. LetsGetChecked received de novo authorization for the Simple 2 Test, an over-the-counter kit that uses vaginal swabs or urine specimens to detect the bacteria that cause the two sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The authorization will move sample collection from the doctor’s office to the home — potentially increasing testing of STDs, which are on the rise — and create a 510(k) pathway for rival diagnostics. Dive Insight Until this week, the FDA had only authorized at-home sample collection for one STD, HIV. Sample collection for all other STDs occurred at the point of care, for example, in a doctor’s office. People may be less likely to get tested at the point of care, particularly for frequently asymptomatic infections such as chlamydia and gonorrhea, because of concerns about confidentiality and convenience. The ...
Cytovale, a San Francisco-based medical diagnostics company, raised $84 million in Series C funds to advance the commercialization of its diagnostic test for early sepsis detection. Using standard blood draws, the test provides results in under 10 minutes. It is meant to detect sepsis in patients who present to hospital emergency departments. Sepsis kills more than 11 million people worldwide each year and contributes to 20% of all global deaths. The disease is also a leading cause of death in U.S. hospitals, and a septic patient’s risk of death increases by 8% each hour they go undiagnosed and untreated. Cytovale, a San Francisco-based medical diagnostics company, is seeking to tackle this issue with its early sepsis detection test. On Wednesday, the startup announced that it has raised $84 million in Series C funds to bring the test to more hospitals. The financing round, which takes Cytovale’s total funding amount to more than $122 million, was led by Norwest ...
Dive Brief The Food and Drug Administration has cleared the first over-the-counter COVID-19 antigen test via a traditional premarket review pathway. Acon Laboratories secured the 510(k) clearance for its Flowflex COVID-19 Antigen Home Test. The firm received emergency use authorization (EUA) in 2021 and, by following in the footsteps of Cue Health’s de novo molecular test, converted that approval into a conventional clearance. The clearance gives Americans another fully authorized test ahead of an infectious respiratory disease season in which testing volumes are forecast to be down compared to prior years. Dive Insight The EUA program enabled the FDA to quickly make COVID-19 tests available in the U.S. during the public health emergency. Today, the administration maintains EUAs on 65 antigen tests and 276 molecular diagnostic tests for COVID-19. While the EUAs remain in effect, the FDA is encouraging manufacturers to transition to its normal pathways now that the acute ...
FDA restricts use of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) combination in the treatment of gastric cancer to patients with certain tumor types. The FDA has amended the currently approved indication for pembrolizumab (Keytruda) plus trastuzumab (Herceptin), fluoropyrimidine, and platinum-containing chemotherapy in the treatment of gastric cancer. The agency’s updated indication remains under accelerated approval regulations, but restricts the use of Keytruda to patients whose tumors express PD-L1 with a combined positive score (CPS) of one or more as determined by an FDA-approved test for the treatment of locally advanced unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) adenocarcinoma. The FDA also approved the Agilent PD-L1 immunohistochemistry 22C3 pharmDx companion diagnostic device to help identify patients with gastric or GEJ adenocarcinoma whose tumors express PD-L1. Keytruda is an anti-PD-1 therapy that has been found to increase the immune system’s ability to detect and fight tumor cells. The humanized monoclonal antibody inhibits the interaction ...
Covera Health has finalized its acquisition of CoRead, the companies announced last week but did not disclose the terms of the deal. Covera also announced that it raised up to $50 million in additional Series C funding led by Insight Partners. By MARISSA PLESCIA Covera Health, an AI-enabled diagnostic technology company focused on radiology, has finalized its acquisition of CoRead, an AI quality assurance company, the organizations announced last week. In addition, Covera Health has secured up to $50 million in additional Series C funding. New York City-based Covera Health works with providers to help them improve the quality of their radiology care and works with payers and employers to ensure that members and employees are directed to the best radiology provider for their needs. Its customers include Walmart, Premera Blue Cross and Nuance. CoRead, based in Cary, North Carolina, offers a solution that helps radiologists identify blindspots and misdiagnoses. ...
Dive Brief Siemens Healthineers plans to lay off 300 workers amid a restructuring of the company’s diagnostics business, according to a filing last week with the New Jersey Department of Labor & Workforce Development. The filing represented 180 new layoffs and 120 layoffs announced in June, a Siemens spokesperson said in an emailed statement. The company also plans to consolidate some of its instrument manufacturing operations conducted in Flanders, New Jersey, to Dublin by September 2024. The spokesperson did not comment on whether the company expects to save money with the moves, writing that if Siemens makes any figures public, it will happen on its fourth-quarter earnings call on Wednesday. Dive Insight Siemens has been restructuring its diagnostics segment after telling investors last year that the business has been burdened by inflation, logistical and supply challenges and revenue hits due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The company announced it would cut ...
Pictured: Roche tower in Switzerland/iStock, olli0815 Roche is eliminating four clinical programs amid drooping sales brought about by a sharp decline in demand for COVID-19 products and a strong Swiss franc, the pharma group announced Thursday morning in its third-quarter earnings results. According to a development pipeline document released alongside the quarterly report, Roche will end a Phase I solid tumor trial for its investigational CEA/CD3 bispecific antibody cibisatamab. The company will also stop Phase II trials of its antipsychotic drug candidate ralmitaront in schizophrenia and the developmental cannabinoid receptor agonist vicasinabin in diabetic retinopathy. Roche discontinued the mid-stage study of ralmitaront after it failed a Phase II trial in May 2023, unable to elicit significant improvements on negative symptoms in a preliminary analysis. The vicasinabin and cibisatamab programs were likewise scrapped following underwhelming reviews of their efficacy in their respective studies. However, in a media call Thursday morning, a Roche spokesperson said that these two ...
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