Industry News

The Biden administration supports a notable increase in funding for public health and research as a lead priority for the coming year.

As COVID-19 continues to spread, industry leaders are banding together to stop the disease in its tracks.

Moderna has initiated a rolling submission process with FDA for a biologics license application for its mRNA COVID-19 vaccine for individuals 18 years of age and older.

FDA has issued an emergency use authorization for sotrovimab, an investigational monoclonal antibody therapy, for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19.

In the face of a growing clamor for greater worldwide access to COVID-19 vaccines, biopharma companies are promising to expand distribution of free and low-cost preventives to curb the pandemic globally.

CMA has launched an anti-competition investigation into AstraZeneca’s $39-billion acquisition of Alexion Pharmaceuticals.

ISPE’s latest guide ISPE Good Practice Guide: Knowledge Management in the Pharmaceutical Industry focuses on how knowledge management allows for a more effective pharmaceutical quality system.

In the study, which enrolled 3700 US participants ages 12 to less than 18 years, no cases of COVID-19 were found in participants who had received two doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine.

FDA recently published a final guidance for making post-approval manufacturing changes to drugs and biologics, the culmination of a long-running effort to facilitate improvements in medical product quality through the product life cycle.

The guidance addresses implementation of amendments made by the FDA Reauthorization Act of 2017.

The final guidance document provides recommendations for regulatory, quality, nonclinical, and clinical considerations for bispecific antibody development programs.

The agency’s human medicines committee concluded sotrovimab can be used to treat COVID-19 in adults and adolescents who do not require supplemental oxygen therapy and are at risk for severe COVID-19.

The agency is authorizing extending the time undiluted, thawed vaccine vials can be stored in the refrigerator to one month.

The guidance provides a framework for the management of postapproval chemistry, manufacturing, and controls changes.

The guidance document gives recommendations to support biopharmaceutics classification of drug substances and the Biopharmaceutics Classification System-based waiver of the in-vivo bioequivalence study requirement for drugs.

The agency has published multiple guidance documents and policy initiatives for updating and advancing the clinical research process.

USP worked with a patient advocacy group and a purchasing organization to create a predictive model for improving supply chain resilience for critical pediatric oncology drugs.

The agency’s human medicines committee has recommended extending the approved storage period of unopened thawed vials at 2–8 0C from five days to 31 days.

FDA expects to conduct only a small portion of scheduled facility visits in 2021 due to continued limitations on travel imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

NIH reported that an investigational gene therapy developed by researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles and Great Ormond Street Hospital in London can restore the immune systems of infants and children who have severe combined immunodeficiency due to adenosine deaminase deficiency.

Pfizer and BioNTech have initiated a rolling submission of a biologics license application to FDA for the approval of their COVID-19 vaccine in individuals 16 years of age and older.

The agency released a report that outlines inspectional activities conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic and discusses plans for future inspection operations.

Projects led by collaborating researchers from both Sanofi and Stanford Medicine will focus on autoimmune diseases and inflammatory conditions.

The European Medicines Agency has announced the commencement of an evaluation for the extension of use of Comirnaty, Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine, to include young people aged 12 to 15 years.

The European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use has started a rolling review of Vero Cell, an inactivated COVID-19 vaccine developed by Sinovac Life Sciences.

FDA is threatening enforcement action against a clinical trial sponsor that has ignored requirements to post study results on the ClinicalTrials.gov website.

Combating COVID-19 is bolstering efforts to limit patent protections on innovative medicines and vaccines.

ISPE’s virtual events will center around the sustainable implementation of and shared responsibility for quality risk management, while providing a space for regulators and industry leaders to share lessons and maintain transparency.

In addition to the traditional FOYA category awards, ISPE recognized two facilities for operational agility during the COVID-19 pandemic.

DCAT’s annual bio/pharmaceutical development and manufacturing business event, DCAT Week, will take place virtually from July 12–16, 2021, with the in-person even postponed to March 20–24, 2022 in New York City.