FDA Approvals, News & Updates

On December 1, 2020, the FDA accelerated the approval of a new indication for pralsetinib (Gavreto; Blueprint Medicines), a RET kinase inhibitor, for the treatment of patients aged ≥12 years with advanced or metastatic medullary thyroid cancer and RET mutation who require systemic therapy or for patients with thyroid cancer and RET fusion who require systemic therapy and whose tumor is refractory to radioactive iodine, if radioactive iodine is appropriate.

On September 1, 2020, the FDA approved azacitidine (Onureg; Celgene), an oral nucleoside metabolic inhibitor, for maintenance treatment of adults with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who had first complete remission (CR) or CR with incomplete blood count recovery after intensive induction chemotherapy and who are not candidates for intensive curative therapy. The FDA granted azacitidine an orphan drug designation and used its priority review for this indication.

On November 25, 2020, the FDA granted accelerated approval to naxitamab-gqgk (Danyelza; Y-mAbs Therapeutics), a GD2-binding monoclonal antibody, in combination with granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) for the treatment of relapsed or refractory high-risk neuroblastoma in the bone or bone marrow in pediatric patients aged ≥1 year and adults who achieved a partial response, minor response, or stable disease after receiving previous therapy. The FDA granted naxitamab priority review and breakthrough therapy, orphan drug, and rare pediatric disease designations.

On December 1, 2020, the FDA approved Gallium 68 PSMA-11 (Ga 68 PSMA-11; University of California), the first drug for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-positive lesions in men with prostate cancer. Ga 68 PSMA-11 is indicated for men with suspected metastatic prostate cancer that may be curable by surgery or by radiation, and for suspected recurrent prostate cancer based on elevated serum prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels.

On July 24, 2020, the FDA accelerated the approval of brexucabtagene autoleucel (Tecartus; Kite Pharma), a CAR T-cell therapy, for the treatment of adults with mantle-cell lymphoma (MCL) whose disease has not responded to or has relapsed after other therapies. Brexucabtagene autoleucel is the first gene therapy FDA-approved specifically for the treatment of patients with MCL, a rare type of B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

On July 31, 2020, the FDA accelerated the approval of tafasitamab-cxix (Monjuvi; Incyte/MorphoSys US), a CD19-directed cytolytic antibody, in combination with lenalidomide (Revlimid) for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) not otherwise specified, including DLBCL arising from low-grade lymphoma, who are not eligible for autologous stem-cell transplant.

On August 5, 2020, the FDA accelerated the approval of belantamab mafodotin-blmf (Blenrep; GlaxoSmithKline), a B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA)-directed antibody and microtubule inhibitor conjugate, for the treatment of adults with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma who have received ≥4 previous therapies, including an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody, a proteasome inhibitor, and an immunomodulatory agent.

On September 4, 2020, the FDA accelerated the approval of pralsetinib (Gavreto; Blueprint Medicines/Genentech), an oral RET inhibitor, for the treatment of adults with metastatic non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and RET-activating fusions, as detected by an FDA-approved test.

On June 10, 2020, the FDA accelerated the approval of a new indication for nivolumab (Opdivo; Bristol Myers Squibb), a PD-1 inhibitor, for the treatment of patients with unresectable advanced, recurrent or metastatic esophageal squamous-cell carcinoma after fluoropyrimidine-based and platinum-based chemotherapy. Nivolumab has been previously approved for many indications, but this is its first indication for esophageal cancer.