FDA Advisory Panel To Review New Heart Failure Drug From Novartis

A novel acute heart failure drug from Novartis will be evaluated next month by an FDA advisory committee, perhaps countering a long string of crash-and-burn cardiology drugs. On February 13 the FDA’s Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee will discuss the biologics license application (BLA) for serelaxin injection from Novartis. The indication is for the improvement of the…

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FDA Panel Recommends Approval Of Mipomersen For Familial Hypercholesterolemia

The FDA’s Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee gave a weak endorsement to mipomersen, an antisense oligonucleotide inhibitor manufactured by Genzyme, for use in homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). With its relatively close 9-6 vote, and with its comments, the committee expressed concerns about both the efficacy and safety of the drug, but ultimately the severity of…

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FDA Reviewers Recommend Approval For Lomitapide For Homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia

The FDA Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee voted 13-2 to recommend approval of Aegerion Pharmaceuticals’ cholesterol-lowering drug lomitapide for use in patients with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). The lopsided vote does not completely reflect the views of many of the panel members, who expressed considerable concern  that the drug might be used in lower…

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FDA Review Raises Safety Concerns About Mipomersen

An FDA review raises a number of potentially significant safety concerns about the cholesterol-lowering drug mipomersen. The review appears ahead of a Thursday meeting of the Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee to evaluate Genzyme’s new drug application (NDA) for use of the drug as an adjunct to maximally tolerated lipid-lowering medications and diet to reduce…

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FDA Reviewers Raise No New Red Flags Over Lomitapide

FDA reviewers have raised no new concerns about lomitapide ahead of a Wednesday meeting of the Endocrinologic and Metabolic Drugs Advisory Committee.  The FDA today released briefing documents that evaluate the new drug application (NDA) for lomitapide capsules, the microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP) inhibitor from  Aegerion Pharmaceuticals for use as an adjunct to a low-fat diet and…

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FDA Advisory Panel Recommends Expanded Indication For Sapien Transcatheter Heart Valve

The FDA’s Circulatory System Devices Panel voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to recommend an expanded indication for the Edwards Sapien Transcatheter Heart Valve in patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis who have high operative risk. The device is currently approved for use only in patients who are not surgical candidates. The committee voted 10-2 that the Sapien device…

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Live Blog: FDA Advisory Panel For Edwards Sapien Transcatheter Heart Valve

Here’s my live-blog of the FDA’s meeting of the Circulatory System Devices Panel to consider the premarket approval (PMA) application for the Edwards Sapien Transcatheter Heart Valve for use in patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis who have high operative risk. As reported here earlier this week, FDA reviewers have raised a number of questions about the safety and…

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FDA Advisory Committee Recommends Against ACS Indication For Rivaroxaban

The FDA’s Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee voted against adding an indication for acute coronary syndromes (ACS) to the label  of the anticoagulant rivaroxaban (Xarelto). The vote was 6 to 4 against approval, with 1 abstention. The advisory panel spent most of the day trying to reconcile diametrically opposed views of the pivotal ATLAS ACS 2-TIMI…

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Live Blog: The FDA Advisory Panel For Rixaroxaban for ACS

Here’s my live-blogg of the FDA’s Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee meeting to consider the supplemental new drug application (sNDA) for rivaroxaban (Xarelto, Johnson & Johnson) for use in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) already taking dual antiplatelet therapy. Here is a link to the FDA briefing documents. ========================= 4:48: Meeting adjourned! J&J has just issued a press release…

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Rivaroxaban For ACS Gets Positive FDA Review, But Questions About ATLAS Trial Conduct Persist

The FDA will offer generally positive but also highly mixed advice to the FDA’s Cardiovascular and Renal Drugs Advisory Committee  when it meets on Wednesday to consider the supplemental new drug application for rivaroxaban (Xarelto, Johnson & Johnson) for use in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) already taking dual antiplatelet therapy. The FDA posted the briefing documents…

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FDA Advisory Panel Gives Green Light To HeartWare Ventricular Assist System

The FDA’s Circulatory System Devices panel voted 9-2 on Wednesday to recommend approval of the HeartWare Ventricular Assist System as a bridge to heart transplantation for patients with end-stage heart failure. The panel agreed unanimously (11-0) that the new device is effective. The panel was more divided about safety but ultimately voted  8-3 that the device…

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Decision on Apixaban (Eliquis) Pushed Back By Three Months

Update, March 1, 5 PM: Ramsay Baghadi of the RPM Report says that the Cardiorenal committee will take up the apixaban NDA on Mary 22 and the rivaroxaban supplemental NDA for the ACS indication on May 23, but this information has not been confirmed. Confirming earlier speculation by a Wall Street analyst, Pfizer and Bristol-Myers…

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2011 in Review: Rivaroxaban, Sapien, Mark Midei, Conflicts of Interest, and Much More

Here’s a completely personal review of the past year in cardiology. Please write a comment if you strongly agree, disagree, or think something is missing. Drug of the Year: Rivaroxaban (Xarelto)– Despite a highly negative review from FDA reviewers, rivaroxaban gained FDA approval for the coveted stroke prevention in AF indication. The drug was approved…

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