Efforts to overhaul the EU pharmaceutical legislation have been given added impetus after the European Parliament called for action to boost innovation and medicines access, shore up manufacturing and supply chains, and examine the link between R&D spending and drug prices.

The Pink Sheet's EU accelerated assessment tracker has been updated to include developments relating to investigational products from Roche and CSL Behring/UniQure.

Discussions are ongoing at Health Canada on the feasibility of adopting the UK model of easing clinical study requirements for biosimilars, said director general Celia Lourenco at a recent event. Meanwhile, the US FDA’s stance is unchanged for now.

The EMA is going all out to maximize coverage of the EU population with both vaccines and treatments for COVID-19.

Changes to an ICH guideline could help drug companies that are being deluged with post-approval safety information to cut down on noisy, low-value data.

Drug sponsors seeking centralized EU marketing authorizations now have the opportunity to have simpler pre-submission “interactions” with the European Medicines Agency six months before the submission to help avoid complications down the line. Full meetings may still be appropriate for complex issues such as requests for accelerated assessment or conditional approval.

The world’s second-largest economy is fast moving away from reforms and open to a "dual circulation" model, focusing on domestic market consumption while reducing export-driven production. Executives and investors shared views at a conference on whether multinational pharma firms are still welcome in China and what opportunities may lie in the drastic policy shift.

Citing considerations of simplification, implementation and equity, Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices says everyone ages ≥50 years should get an mRNA vaccine booster dose and recommends all individuals ≥18 years have the option of getting one, without regard to occupational exposure or underlying medical conditions.

US government is paying Merck & Co. around $181 more per course of treatment for its oral antiviral for COVID-19, molnupiravir, than it is to Pfizer for its competing drug.

Efforts to overhaul the EU pharmaceutical legislation have been given added impetus after the European Parliament called for action to boost innovation and medicines access, shore up manufacturing and supply chains, and examine the link between R&D spending and drug prices.

US FDA commissioner-nominee Califf calls for streamlining clinical trial bureaucracy, as well as open access to clinical data.

Growing over 9% and domestic study sponsors take over 70% of the drugs in different stages, China clinical study sector attracts renewed interests post COVID, but underneath an uneven and less efficient field, noted a just released regulatory report.

While Democratic politicians – and most voters – want to see drug pricing negotiations introduced in the US for the first time, pharma leaders still believe a deal on out of pocket costs will be agreed instead.

Drug and medical device company payments to doctors and hospitals for non-research related activities dropped for the first time in 2020 since CMS’s Open Payments database began collecting the information. 

Pink Sheet reporters and editors discuss Bluebird Bio’s decision to pull its gene therapy business from Europe, Eli Lilly potentially pushing regulatory boundaries with its Olympic TV spots, and the CMS decision to scrap the Trump aministration’s most favored nation reimbursement rule.

Efforts to overhaul the EU pharmaceutical legislation have been given added impetus after the European Parliament called for action to boost innovation and medicines access, shore up manufacturing and supply chains, and examine the link between R&D spending and drug prices.

Soon-to-be-released white papers will FRAME how FDA plans assess products manufactured with advanced technologies as part of an initiative to reduce uncertainty for sponsors.

Pharmaceutical companies are ratcheting up voluntary efforts to control discharges of antimicrobials from their plants and those of their active pharmaceutical ingredient suppliers so they won’t contribute to antimicrobial resistance. But will it be enough to fend off regulation in countries like India?