Regulatory

Reports of seven deaths in patients who had taken Neurocrine Biosciences’ Vykat and the official termination of Aardvark Therapeutics’ Phase 3 trial after cardiac complications marked a tough day for the Prader-Willi syndrome community.
FDA
After two rejections, Replimune has made it across the regulatory finish line with its advanced melanoma therapy. Meanwhile, the last of the major pharmas, including Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, reported second quarter earnings, and psychedelics made headlines once again.
ITM Isotope Technologies plans on resubmitting its advanced cancer radiopharma therapy to the FDA after addressing the agency’s concerns.
The shift from ex vivo to in vivo gene delivery is rewriting the rules of viral vector manufacturing, forcing developers to rethink scale, purity, cell lines and analytics as vectors themselves become the drug. AGC Biologics is betting on stable producer lines, next‑gen purification and deeper characterization to meet the far stricter demands of in vivo therapies.
Orzeyful is the first orexin agonist cleared by the FDA, and is the first narcolepsy therapy that addresses the full host of disease symptoms. It is “likely to reshape the treatment paradigm” for the condition, Jefferies told investors.
The FDA in February slapped Moderna’s vaccine with a refusal-to-file letter—though the agency backtracked a few days later and accepted a revised submission for review. An advisory committee in June unanimously backed mFLUVISA’s approval.
A legal dispute between the FDA and Eli Lilly over whether the highly anticipated obesity candidate retatrutide is indeed a biologic has come to a head as the company prepares to submit the medicine for approval.
FDA
The industry has been abuzz since the weekend when talks of a potential mega-merger between Bristol Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca were reported. Meanwhile, Pfizer, Merck and others release second quarter earnings, with some disclosing pipeline discontinuations and cost-cutting measures. Finally, all eyes turn to the FDA in the wake of heated advisory committee meetings for Capricor Therapeutics and Replimune.
Positive two-year follow-up data for Otsuka Pharmaceuticals’ IgA nephropathy drug Voyxact could support the FDA’s ongoing review of Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ povetacicept, CEO Reshma Kewalramani said on the company’s second quarter earnings call.
FDA
The FDA’s new investigational new drug pilot program—one part of HHS’s broader clinical trial modernization initiatives—has lofty goals to expedite first-in-human trials of novel drugs, but experts say it won’t tip the scales much on its own.
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