Featured Stories

Copay Accumulators Get A Reprieve: Commercial Plans’ Use Will Not Be Restricted By CMS – Yet
US Health and Human Service Department questions recent federal court decision striking down the government’s policy of allowing plans to broadly exclude manufacturer copay assistance from counting toward patient deductibles or out-of-pocket maximums.

Qualifying Digital Biomarkers ‘Much Easier Now’ Thanks To EMA Efforts
The European Medicines Agency has been on a steep learning curve with its qualification of a digitally-measured outcome for use in Duchenne muscular dystrophy trials, smoothing the way for other developers entering the digital biomarker space.

US FDA Chief Scientist Bumpus Will Become Principal Deputy Commissioner
When Janet Woodcock retires early next year, Namandjé Bumpus will take over as No. 2 in command at the FDA. Since joining the agency in 2022 from Johns Hopkins, her profolio has included health disparities, cosmetics, and drug review disputes.
Rare Disease Policy Changes
Can The US FDA Do More To Help Advance Rare Disease Therapies?
The National Academy of Medicine is launching a Congressionally mandated study of the US FDA’s regulatory approach to rare disease treatments. The first question is whether there is anything more that FDA can do.
‘Warp Speed’ For Rare Diseases: Gene Therapy Pilot Also Includes Neurodegenerative Drugs
New Zealand Seeks Funding Applications For Rare Disorder Drugs
Confirmatory Trial Plan For Acrotech’s Folotyn, Beleodaq Needs Rethinking, FDA Panel Says
IRA’s Orphan Drug Exemption Could Lead to More Off-Label Prescribing
Latest News
Pink Sheet Podcast
Keep up with latest biopharma regulatory and policy developments with Pink Sheet podcasts.
More PodcastsPerformance Trackers

Keeping Track: US FDA Drugs Center Passes 50 Novel Agent Approvals In 2023
AstraZeneca’s Truqap and Evive’s Ryzneuta bring FDA center for drugs’ 2023 novel agent total to 51, while biologics center already sits on a record-breaking 14 novel approvals.

Global Pharma Guidance Tracker – October 2023
Stay up to date on regulatory guidelines from around the world with the Pink Sheet's Guidance Tracker. The complete Global Pharma Guidance Tracker, with sortable and searchable listings going back to 2014, is available online.
US FDA Performance Tracker
European Performance Tracker
Multimedia

Generics Review Data From US FDA Reveals Positives, Negatives For Industry
While a decline in complete response letters in FY 2023 is good, the continued drop in ANDA submissions could be a bad sign for the industry’s long-term health, a former FDA official worries.

Vanda Launches Barrage Of Suits Against FDA Seeking To Retain Hetlioz Market
In 17 suits against FDA in the last two years, firm seeks to block generics of its sleep-wake disorder drug and gain a jet lag indication. CEO Mihael Polymeropoulos tells the Pink Sheet that FDA has retaliated against Vanda for its first suit challenging a partial clinical hold on another drug.

Data on Designations: What’s Happened To BTDs Over The Years
Pink Sheet infographic breaks down the breakthrough therapy designations made by the US FDA, with statistics on what’s been approved, rescinded, and everything in between.

Sponsors Still Not Racing To Schedule In-Person Meetings With US FDA
The vast majority of meeting requests eligible for the in-person/virtual format were not requested as such, according to Center for Drug Evaluation and Research data.
Regional Comparisons

Watching The Clock Stop: US/EU Regulatory Review Time Parity In Sight, Study Suggests
European Union reform proposals could reduce ‘clock stop’ time in drug reviews, which a new study identified as the primary driver of longer review times at the EMA compared with the US FDA.

International Regulators Say Collaboration Is Key To Tackling Pharma Globalization Challenges
Regulators from Canada, the UK and Australia discuss their experiences of working together under both the ACCESS Consortium, an international regulatory worksharing coalition, and Project Orbis, a parallel review process designed to speed up access to oncology medicines.

Project Orbis: More Cancer Drugs Available In Scotland Than England
The UK joined Project Orbis in 2021 with the aim of speeding up the regulatory process for promising cancer drugs, but fewer than half of the drugs licensed under this pathway are available on the NHS in England.

EU-US-Japanese Pharmacopeia Group Accepts India As First New Member in Decades
The move expands access to the Pharmacopoeial Discussion Group’s quality standards to the Indian pharmaceutical industry.
Recent Stories
MSD & Kyowa Question NICE’s Processes After English Funding Rejected For Rare Disease Drugs
MSD and Kyowa Kirin have separately criticized England’s HTA body, NICE, for assessing their respective rare disease medicines Welireg and Crysvita using its standard appraisal pathway. Both medicines were provisionally rejected for reimbursement.
Drug Candidates For NASH & Epilepsy Disorder Secure EMA PRIME Designations
The developers of survodutide and elsunersen will be able to benefit from the early and enhanced support that the European Medicines Agency offers through its priority medicines scheme.
Pragmatic Oncology Trials: Survival Is Only Viable Endpoint For Now; FDA Emphasizes Streamlining
Overall survival is the only viable endpoint for pragmatic trials in oncology, the US FDA and a panel of stakeholders agree, although other novel endpoints could be validated over time. In the meantime, FDA says, sponsors should focus on other aspects of trials that can be streamlined.
New Korea Commission Needs Status To Function As Control Tower: Industry
A policy report by a major South Korean pharma industry association puts forward suggestions on what it will take for a new pan-government control tower to function properly.
Gene Therapies Without Randomized Clinical Trials: Marks Outlines Rare Disease Development Path
A single-arm trial using a biomarker and animal model could be enough for an accelerated approval, especially in a pediatric rare disease where randomization and placebo controls may not be feasible, the CBER director said.
EMA Expands Early Engagement With Patients & Health Professionals
On the back of a successful pilot of early consultations with patients, the European Medicines Agency is extending the initiative so that patient and health care professional groups can give valuable input in areas such as unmet needs, clinical trial endpoints and expectations for future treatments.
The Future Of US FDA’s Institutional Memory
The upcoming retirement of Janet Woodcock will mean the loss of one of the US FDA’s most experienced and influential drug regulators. However, the drug center still has plenty of long-tenured staff peppered across all of its key functions.
Dry Eye Crossover Study Could Allow Aldeyra A Quick Response To US FDA’s CRL For Reproxalap
Aldeyra’s bid to rely on a single Phase III trial after an initial one failed is rejected by FDA, but firm already has a special protocol assessment under review for a trial that could provide the symptom data it says agency needs to approve the RASP modulator in dry eye.
CAR-T Malignancy Reports Could Temper Excitement For Use Beyond Oncology
US FDA has received a total of 19 reports of T-cell malignancy involving BCMA- or CD19-directed autologous CAR-T cell immunotherapies and is evaluating the need for regulatory action. Focus on lentiviral and retroviral vectors could extend to safety of other types of gene therapies.
Rx Rebating Bills In House, Senate Come Into Alignment As Passage Likely Punted to 2024
Legislation to delink PBM payments from drug prices advances in House Energy and Commerce health subcommittee, putting a key pharma priority closer to the finish line. Whether patients will see any benefit remains a worry.
China Respiratory Disease Surge Prompts WHO Info Request
Since October, reported cases of infectious respiratory diseases have been rising in China, prompting an information request from the WHO. However, no new types of pathogen or unusual clinical symptoms have been detected so far.
FDA’s Orange Book Dispute Resolution Process May Grow Teeth With FTC Patent Listing Challenges
People have challenged patent listings more than 60 times in the past six years but it is up to new drug application holders to decide whether to revise or delist their submissions.
You must sign in to use this functionality
Authentication.SignIn.HeadSignInHeader
Email Article
All set! This article has been sent to my@email.address.
All fields are required. For multiple recipients, separate email addresses with a semicolon.
Please Note: Only individuals with an active subscription will be able to access the full article. All other readers will be directed to the abstract and would need to subscribe.