The latest drug development news and highlights from the Pink Sheet’s US FDA Performance Tracker

Vote can be seen as an endorsement of the Oncology Center of Excellence’s push for use of a single, ongoing randomized trial to serve as the basis for both accelerated approval and confirmatory evidence. OCE director Richard Pazdur says agency will be flexible in applying randomization requirements to future drugs that have a cleaner safety profile.

Company also withdraws Ukoniq, a P13K inhibitor, just 14 months after accelerated approval in two lymphoma indications. US oncology drugs panel will discuss safety concerns with the PI3K class on 21 April, but FDA has already staked out its position in a Lancet commentary that a new development approach is needed with survival as the ultimate safety endpoint.

MEI/Kyowa Kirin will no longer seek accelerated approval based on a single-arm study as the FDA is calling for Phase III data due to growing conservatism regarding the PI3K class.