Near tie goes to the US FDA? While almost every member of the Arthritis Advisory Committee agreed with agency’s assessment that ChemoCentryx’s trial of avacopan for ANCA vasculitis was poorly designed, making it hard to tease out the drug’s benefit-risk profile, about half were in favor of approval due to the potential to spare patients from the adverse effects of steroids. Others said the sponsor didn’t meet the agency’s standard for approval off just one pivotal study.
The US Food and Drug Administration’s Arthritis Advisory Committee's narrow endorsement of the approval of avacopan, ChemoCentryx, Inc.’snovel treatment for anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody (ANCA)-vasculitis, seems unlikely to be strong enough to persuade a skeptical agency that the rare disease treatment is ready for marketing.
The panel voted 10-8, 6 May, in favor of the new molecular entity’s risk-benefit profile after splitting 9-9 on its...