FDA
While drugmakers and other stakeholders want to see faster approvals, experts say the FDA’s Commissioner’s National Priority Review voucher program is still bereft of important details, with candidate selection and interference from the agency’s senior leaders topping the list.
UniQure’s planned third-quarter submission for its Huntington’s disease gene therapy may be a harbinger of a more flexible FDA under acting commissioner Kyle Diamantas—but how long will it last? And how can companies be sure these positive decisions won’t just be reversed?
After being rejected in June 2022, GSK paid Spero Therapeutics $66 million for an exclusive worldwide license to develop and commercialize the drug. It’s the second oral antibiotic GSK has brought to market since the beginning of last year.
After a regulatory odyssey that delayed a filing for what would be the first genetic medicine for Huntington’s disease, the FDA has agreed that three-year data from uniQure’s Phase 1/2 trial are sufficient to support an accelerated biologics license application.
The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee will meet June 18 to discuss Moderna’s seasonal flu vaccine mRNA-1010 after the FDA initially refused to accept the application in February.
Sanofi makes no mention of the Commissioner’s National Priority Voucher. Tzield was awarded the ticket in October 2025, but Sanofi requested withdrawal from the program after former CDER head Tracy Beth Høeg reportedly expressed skepticism of the drug.
The FDA has expanded the regulatory toolkit during President Donald Trump’s second term, adding new mechanisms for rare diseases while putting the Biden-era platform technology designation into action.
As the FDA tries to clarify its intent for former FDA Commissioner Marty Makary’s plausible mechanism framework for bespoke therapies, experts emphasize the importance of expanding its scope to encompass rare diseases that affect more than just one or a few individuals.
The FDA must provide consistent and predictable regulatory frameworks if the U.S. is to maintain its leadership in gene therapy, one of the most consequential therapeutic fields of our generation.
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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