FDA
After reviewing Bausch & Lomb’s response to its observations, the FDA questioned whether the company is committed to implementing significant design remediations.
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A year to the day after the Trump administration slashed $500 million in funding from mRNA-based programs, the FDA approved Moderna’s flu vaccine based on the technology. Weeks later, Moderna and Merck revealed positive Phase 3 results for their personalized mRNA-based cancer vaccine. In the words of one mRNA specialist, “science won.”
Newly solidified in their roles as the heads of CBER and CDER, Karim Mikhail and Michael Davis have been working for months to right the ship that had begun to capsize under former Commissioner Marty Makary. Meanwhile, Jared Seehafer will become the first-ever deputy commissioner focused on artificial intelligence.
The FDA’s proposal to offer 50% off application fees for drugs with early-stage trials conducted in the U.S. is unlikely to achieve the intended result. What biotechs really want is speed.
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Heading into an FDA hearing on Monday regarding the future of psychedelic treatments, public comments show wide support for further exploring the therapeutic potential of these compounds—to match rising support within the agency.
The enrollment pause comes after BHV-7000 failed to show efficacy in a midstage depression trial late last year. The news is another regulatory hit for Biohaven after the FDA declined to approve its spinocerebellar ataxia treatment in November 2025.
September has been a rough month already for Novo Nordisk, which canned two more late-stage trials of its embattled IL-6 inhibitor, and Novartis, which took Phase 3 hits in both cardiovascular and muscular dystrophy indications; Ultragenyx’s big bet in Angelman syndrome failed to yield benefit in Phase 3 but Ionis’ Pharmaceuticals nabbed the first targeted approval for Alexander disease; and on the business side, biopharma investment is back in a big way.
The decision to promote Michael Davis and Karim Mikhail from acting to permanent division heads comes as the FDA awaits the potential confirmation of Heidi Overton, President Donald Trump’s nominee for commissioner.
The approval opens up a “modest” market for AstraZeneca’s Etcamah, according to Leerink analysts, who nevertheless looked forward to an upcoming late-stage readout that could lead to a “significantly larger opportunity” for the drug.
Zanvastro, an antisense oligonucleotide therapy, represents the first independent neurology launch for Ionis Pharmaceuticals, which intends to leverage the foothold for more approvals in rare neurodegenerative diseases, including Angelman syndrome.
The FDA’s primary review team found that Replimune hadn’t sufficiently addressed deficiencies that had been pointed out in the two prior rejection letters for the melanoma therapy Tudriqev.
Last month’s FDA advisory committee meetings for therapies developed by Capricor Therapeutics and Replimune effectively illustrate the different outcomes for patients when the agency prioritizes specialization in its reviews.
Inspection access is not “an administrative footnote,” leaders of key FDA divisions wrote in an editorial on Wednesday vowing to expand oversight of foreign clinical trial sites.
The biologics license application follows months of public speculation—and regulatory reversals—for uniQure’s AMT-130. If accepted by the FDA for priority review, approval could come in the second quarter of 2027.