A top official from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said he wants to see something similar to the agency’s Project Orbis program developed for cell and gene therapies, as the involvement of other “high-income countries” could help attract developers, asserted Peter Marks, director of FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), at the Biopharma Congress on 13 February.   At the meeting, FDA officials offered their perspectives on other policy ar...

Officials from the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) Office of Tissues and Advanced Therapies (OTAT) asserted that the duration of clinical trials for gene therapies depends on the nature of the disease being treated, and that diseases that are more progressive and have a rapid onset may involve shorter trials.   This was one of the learnings imparted by officials during a 7 February virtual town hall meeting to...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced this week it has elevated and reorganized its Office of Tissues and Advanced Therapies (OTAT) to a “Super Office” within the Center of Biologics Research and Evaluation (CBER) to meet its growing workload and new commitments under the Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA VII) agreement for FY2023-2027.   The office will be renamed the Office of Therapeutic Products (OTP).   “With the current and anticipated incre...

It can take at least a year to 18 months to get a new medicinal product approved in the US, European Union, or United Kingdom. Over the last decade, regulators have introduced initiatives to shorten the time to market for medicines that address seriously debilitating and life-threatening conditions. This article reviews the initiation and achievements of US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) breakthrough therapy designation (BTD), the European Medicines Agency’s (EMA) ...

Both industry and clinicians asked the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for clarification related to the evaluation of cellular starting materials in its draft guidance on chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell product development.   The public comments also sought more details on change management and how the guidance applies to other genetically modified products.   The draft guidance , issued on 15 March 2022, provides recommendations on chemistry, manufac...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday released draft guidance explaining its thought process for rescinding breakthrough therapy designation (BTD) during its evaluation of a drug.   While FDA has long asserted its authority to rescind or withdraw BTDs, the new guidance will add clarity for sponsors as to when the agency might revoke the designation. Since designation was created under the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act in 2012,...

Peter Marks, director of Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), attributes an increase in the amount of regenerative medicine advanced therapy (RMAT) requests approved for cell and gene therapies to sponsors “getting the hang” of the agency’s expectations for designation requests.   Marks spoke at the California Separation Science Society’s (CASSS) meeting on 8 June on cell and gene therapies. The meeting was h...

Updated 25 May 2022 to correct ASGCT's name. Wilson Bryan director of the US Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Tissues and Advanced Therapies (OTA) in the agency’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, told a 19 May meeting  of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT) that the division is undertaking a series of internal measures to improve communications with sponsors and to widen its messaging.   These measures are being taken to com...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved or tentatively approved 776 Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDAs) for generic drugs in 2021, continuing a steady decline in generic approvals in recent years.   In calendar year 2020 , FDA approved or tentatively approved 948 ANDAs for generic drugs, which was down from 1,014 in 2019 . The latest figures are part of the FDA’s Office of Generic Drugs (OGD) 2021 Annual Report .   But the agency approved 93 “fi...

Feature articles during January focused on regulatory leadership, a novel approach to hiring regulatory professionals, expedited programs for reducing time to approval for certain drugs, and the Cuban biotechnology industry and its response to COVID-19. Keywords – assessment aid, breakthrough therapy, Cuba, diversity, ILAP, leadership, PRIME   Leadership, hiring, and expanding diversity Effective leadership in regulatory affairs is rooted in an understanding a...

Abstract Over the last decade, regulators have introduced initiatives to reduce time to approval for medicines that address an unmet medical need. This article compares the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) breakthrough therapy designation (BTD), the European Medicine’s Agency’s (EMA’s) PRIority MEdicines (PRIME) scheme, and the innovative licensing and access pathway (ILAP) from the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and reviews th...

Industry, medical societies and other stakeholders have weighed in on draft guidance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) detailing how sponsors that want to study multiple versions of cell and gene therapies could combine them in a single “umbrella” trial.   The draft guidance, released in September 2021, outlined FDA’s proposed thinking for how this process would work. For cell and gene therapies intended to treat a single disease, sponsors would typically ...