Lynne Peterson is the Senior Writer for Trends-in-Medicine.

Here is the medical news to watch for April 5-11, 2021.

Cardiology

  • The weekly (Friday and Saturday) Cardiovascular Research Technologies (CRT) virtual meeting will resume on Friday, April 9, with a session on regulatory and preclinical issues relating to heart valve devices. The next day, the focus will be on endovascular procedures.
  • The FDA’s Circulatory System Devices Advisory Committee will meet virtually on April 6 to consider TransMedics’ TransMedics Organ Care System (OCS) Heart, a portable extracorporeal heart perfusion and monitoring system for the resuscitation, preservation, and transport of donor hearts intended for transplant in a normothermic and beating state. Currently, hearts are transported on ice, so this would be a big change.
  • The European Society of Hypertension joint meeting with the International Society of Hypertension (ESH-ISH) will start virtually April 11 and continue through April 14. Among the topics on the first day are: the role of triple therapy, renal denervation, sexual dysfunction and anti-hypertensive therapy, and more.

Neurology: The FDA is expected to make a decision by April 8 on a non-stimulant – a serotonin norepinephrine modulating agent – to treat pediatric attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) – Supernus Pharmaceuticals’ SPN-812 (extended-release viloxazine). Last November, the FDA issued a complete response letter (CRL), rejecting SPN-812 over a laboratory testing issue, but the company resubmitted the drug in February 2021, and the FDA set a 2-month review period.

Oncology: The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) science session will take place virtually April 10-15. There is always a lot of early data at this meeting, and this year is no exception. Among the long list of data to watch are:

  • KRASG12C inhibitors (e.g., Mirati Therapeutics’ MRTX-849, Amgen’s AMG-510, and Lilly’s LY-3537982).
  • A dual CD28/ICOS antagonist (Alpine Immune Sciences’ ALPN-101).
  • An anti-TIGIT (iTeos Therapeutics’ EOS-448).
  • An anti-PD-L1/IL-15 fusion protein (Kadmon’s KD-033).
  • A PD-1 inhibitor/PARP inhibitor combination – Merck MSD’s Keytruda (pembrolizumab) + AstraZeneca’s Lynparza (olaparib).

Regulatory: The FDA will hold a webcast on April 8 on the safety of batteries in electronic nicotine delivery systems (e.g., e-cigarettes).

Rheumatology: The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium will take place virtually April 9-11. Among the topics: an update in the treatment of psoriatic arthritis, applying gout guidelines, current management of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), cutaneous lupus, sarcoidosis, myositis, and much more.

Lynne Peterson, Contributing Writer, Senior Writer for Trends-in-Medicine

Cat ID: 914

Topic ID: 74,914,730,914,121,475,192,725,234,925

Author