US FDA received 110 designation requests in July, a high mark that reflects the 60 days needed to review such requests ahead of the 30 September statutory expiration; agency is allowing email submission of RPD and orphan drug designation requests during the COVID-19 pandemic and expects to roll out an online portal for orphan designation requests later this year.

Most vaccines will be distributed centrally by McKesson, but those with ultra-cold storage requirements will be shipped directly from the manufacturer to the vaccination site. Data exchange system will enable public and private databases to talk to each other and help ensure individuals receive timely revaccination with a second dose of the same vaccine regardless of location.

As agency observers wonder whether and how political considerations will impact the timing of a COVID-19 vaccine approval or authorization, the Pink Sheet looks at instances through the years where agency staffers found themselves operating under precedents with which they disagreed or that didn’t work out as expected.

Agency also should better define, and provide examples of, the types of minor differences and additional features that would affect orphan drug designation and exclusivity determinations, industry sponsors say in comments on January draft guidance.

But principal deputy commissioner gives FDA an ‘8 or 9 on vision’ of how to use RWD to address the pandemic and other challenges. The low ‘execution’ score is due to the large amount of effort needed to understand what datasets are available, how they can be used with confidence and what questions they can answer, Abernethy says.

Survival benefit seen in GlaxoSmithKline’s IMPACT study may be due to negative effects of abrupt withdrawal of inhaled corticosteroids for some patients instead of benefits of the triple-combination therapy itself, advisory committee members said.