Regulation & Policy

Public health and border control officials at the European Commission currently believe that the risk of imminent transmission of the COVID-19 coronavirus across the EU is low to moderate – even as the virus continues to infect increasing numbers of people in Italy.

The Type 2 diabetes medicine Trulicity (dulaglutide) has been approved in the US to treat adults with diabetes who have cardiovascular disease or are at risk of the disease. The makes Trulicity, first approved in 2014, the only Type 2 diabetes medicine that can also be used to reduce the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events.

The US Food and Drug Administration has stepped up its oversight of certain pharmacogenetic tests that make claims for treatments that are not supported by sound science. In an announcement on 20 February, the agency said that it was introducing a new table on the internet giving a list of gene-drug interactions that are based on scientific evidence.

A new intravenous treatment for the prevention of migraine has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration on the basis of trial data showing that patients had a sustained reduction in their disease episodes for a period of months after receiving the drug. The treatment, Vyepti (eptinezumab), is a monoclonal antibody that binds to the human calcitonin gene-related peptide with the result that migraine attacks are reduced. It was developed by Alder BioPharmaceuticals Inc, a company that was acquired by H.

The first gene therapy for haemophilia to be submitted for regulatory review, valoctocogene roxaparvovec, has been given ‘priority review’status by the US Food and Drug Administration. Developed by BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc, the therapy will be assessed for safety and efficacy for the treatment of patients with haemophilia A. Haemophilia A is the more prevalent of the two disease types, haemophilia A and B.

New confirmed cases of infections from the coronavirus in China, also known as COVID-19, are “generally in decline,” China’s ambassador to the EU, Zhang Ming, told journalists on Tuesday. The ambassador was speaking at a meeting in Brussels, organised by the think tank EU-Asia. Topics included EU-China trade relations, but the virus epidemic dominated the conversation. Mr Ming was at pains to detail China’s efforts to contain the epidemic and predicted that the contagion would soon be overcome.

The US Food and Drug Administration has issued new guidance for developers of gene therapies highlighting both the complexity of manufacture as well as the difficulty in establishing duration of response in clinical trials.

The European Medicines Agency has won a case in the Court of Justice of the European Union upholding its right to publicly disclose information from a pharmaceutical company’s application for marketing, once that product has been approved. The case concerns a decision by the EMA to grant a third party access to a regulatory dossier of PTC Therapeutics International Ltd in 2015 for a product for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

A new epigenetic medicine has been approved in the US to treat epithelioid sarcoma, a rare sub-type of soft tissue sarcoma that affects young adults. The drug, Tazverik (tazemetostat), is a small molecule inhibitor of EZH2 methyltransferase which regulates gene expression. By blocking the activity of EZH2, the drug is expected to keep cancer cells from growing. The Food and Drug Administration announced the authorisation on 23 January.

A new drug has been approved in the US for thyroid eye disease, a rare condition in which the muscles and fatty tissues behind the eye become inflamed, causing the eyes to bulge. Tepezza (teprotumumab) is a monoclonal antibody that targets the insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor with the goal of modifying the course of the disease. In issuing the approval, the Food and Drug Administration said Tepezza is the first non-surgical treatment for thyroid eye disease, which can cause eye pain, double vision and sensitivity to light.