Policy
A year of significant policy change at the FDA brought momentum and scrutiny into the new year. As 2026 gets underway, biopharma companies are responding to sweeping vaccine changes while concerns surface about the politicization of the agency.
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Here’s how drug developers can best approach interactions with the agency following last year’s seismic changes to its leadership, workforce and policies.
The CDC’s changes threaten to cut vaccine sales for makers including Pfizer, Moderna, Merck and more, but a legal expert suspects affected manufacturers will stay on the sidelines rather than back a push to declare the revised schedule unlawful.
This week’s Capitol Hill meetings come on the heels of rejections of ultra-rare disease drugs developed by Biohaven and Saol Therapeutics. Physicians and patient groups implored the FDA to expedite these treatments.
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One of the two new members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices questioned the safety of COVID-19 vaccines before the Texas Senate in 2021.
FDA Commissioner Marty Makary presented a new idea to staff this week: bonus payments for employees that complete regulatory review processes faster than expected.
Last week, the FDA made its one pivotal trial policy official, sparking myriad questions from industry leaders, including around specific evidence required for the single study and why it hasn’t been implemented across all therapeutic areas before now.
In his State of the Union address on Tuesday evening, President Donald Trump urged Republican leaders to pass legislation cementing his new drug pricing initiatives as he touted his efforts to lower healthcare costs for Americans.
The rescheduling of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices comes amid fresh leadership upheaval at the CDC as NIH director Jay Bhattacharya replaces Jim O’Neill as acting head of the agency.
The framework, first introduced by FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research head Vinay Prasad in November, was criticized for lacking detailed guidance. Agency leaders elucidated on the pathway for personalized medicines on Monday.
Ralph Abraham, a vocal vaccine skeptic who served at the agency for just three months, has stepped down due to “unforeseen family obligations,” according to the CDC.
A lower court had previously ruled for Sarepta in the companies’ long-running dispute, finding that REGENXBIO’s AAV patent was invalid because its elements were naturally occurring. The appeals court on Friday said that this original decision adopts a “narrow” view of the invention.
Maintaining America’s momentum demands that policymakers resist policies that undermine research and development incentives.
The FDA’s drug review process can often be “unpredictable,” and review teams typically “differ greatly” in what they ask of drug sponsors, Sen. Bill Cassidy said.