A disease progression model of longitudinal lung function decline in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis patients.

Pirfenidone and nintedanib are the first two FDA-approved therapies for treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). The clinical programs for pirfenidone and nintedanib included 1132 patients in the placebo arms and 1691 patients in the treatment arms across 6 trials. We developed a disease progression model to characterize the observed variability in lung function decline, measured as percent predicted forced vital capacity (%p-FVC), and its decrease in decline after treatment.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Experience with Ivacaftor in Cystic Fibrosis. Establishing Efficacy Using In Vitro Data in Lieu of a Clinical Trial.

On May 17, 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration expanded the patient population for use of ivacaftor to include patients with cystic fibrosis with relatively rare mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator gene.

Exposure-Response Modeling and Power Analysis of Components of ACR Response Criteria in Rheumatoid Arthritis (Part 2: Continuous Model).

Population pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) models were developed to quantitate the exposure-response relationships using continuous longitudinal data on American College of Rheumatology (ACR) subcomponents, that is, tender-joint count (TJC), swollen-joint count (SJC), C-reactive protein, patient's assessment of pain, patient's global assessment of disease activity, physician's global assessment of disease activity, and patient's assessment of physical function for 5 biologics approved for use in rheumatoid arthritis. The models were then used to simulate the time courses of clinical outcomes following different treatment regimens. The relative sensitivity of the 7 subcomponents was assessed using Monte Carlo simulation-based power analysis.

Acute Exacerbation and Decline in Forced Vital Capacity Are Associated with Increased Mortality in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.

Rationale: Exploration of FVC as it relates to mortality in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a chronic, progressive, and ultimately fatal parenchymal lung disease, is important both clinically and to the current drug development paradigm. We evaluated the association between FVC decline and mortality in what is to our knowledge the largest well-characterized placebo cohort to date. Additionally, we sought to explore the risk of death caused by acute exacerbations and to further validate previously identified baseline predictors of mortality.

Tiotropium Respimat Is Effective for the Treatment of Asthma at a Dose Lower Than That for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Anticholinergic drug products are not part of the current treatment paradigm for asthma, despite their widespread availability for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and interest in their use for asthma. Published study results, mostly of short duration and primarily with ipratropium and tiotropium, have revealed inconsistent efficacy results. Consequently, the role of inhaled anticholinergic drugs in the treatment of asthma has been unclear.

International Guidelines for Bioequivalence of Locally Acting Orally Inhaled Drug Products: Similarities and Differences.

International regulatory agencies have developed recommendations and guidances for bioequivalence approaches of orally inhaled drug products (OIDPs) for local action. The objective of this article is to discuss the similarities and differences among these approaches used by international regulatory authorities when applications of generic and/or subsequent entry locally acting OIDPs are evaluated. We focused on four jurisdictions that currently have published related guidances for generic and/or subsequent entry OIDPs.

Change in sweat chloride as a clinical end point in cystic fibrosis clinical trials: the ivacaftor experience.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a life-shortening inherited disease caused by mutations in the CF transmembrane conductance regulator gene (CFTR), which encodes for the CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) ion channel that regulates chloride and water transport across the surface of epithelial cells. Ivacaftor, a drug recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, represents the first mutation-specific therapy for CF. It is a CFTR channel modulator and improves CFTR function in patients with CF who have a G551D mutation.

Dosing regimen determination for juvenile idiopathic arthritis: a review of studies during drug development.

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is the most common childhood arthritis. In the past 10-15 years, the medical treatment options of JIA have greatly evolved and expanded due to a better understanding of the disease and the application of biologic agents. Regulations pertinent to pediatric clinical research have also helped provide a legal basis for investigating the effects of drugs and biologics in pediatrics and facilitate the pediatric drug development.

Limitations of model based dose selection for indacaterol in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Objective: Indacaterol is a long-acting β-agonist (LABA) approved by FDA in 2011 at a dose of 75 μg once daily for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). During the review process for indacaterol approval, data were reanalyzed by FDA to evaluate the validity of the model based conclusions regarding dose selection.

Methods: The same dose response model applied by the sponsor was used to analyze a subset of the original data.

Demonstrating Bioequivalence of Locally Acting Orally Inhaled Drug Products (OIPs): Workshop Summary Report.

This March 2009 Workshop Summary Report was sponsored by Product Quality Research Institute (PQRI) based on a proposal by the Inhalation and Nasal Technology Focus Group (INTFG) of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS). Participants from the pharmaceutical industry, academia and regulatory bodies from the United States, Europe, India, and Brazil attended the workshop with the objective of presenting, reviewing, and discussing recommendations for demonstrating bioequivalence (BE) that may be considered in the development of orally inhaled drug products and regulatory guidances for new drug applications (NDAs), abbreviated NDAs (ANDAs), and postapproval changes. The workshop addressed areas related to in vitro approaches to demonstrating BE, biomarker strategies, imaging techniques, in vivo approaches to establishing local delivery equivalence and device design similarity.

In vitro considerations to support bioequivalence of locally acting drugs in dry powder inhalers for lung diseases.

Dry powder inhalers (DPIs) are used to deliver locally acting drugs (e.g., bronchodilators and corticosteroids) for treatment of lung diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Delayed onset and protracted progression of anaphylaxis after omalizumab administration in patients with asthma.

Background: Risk of anaphylaxis is included in the prescribing information for omalizumab, but the nature of these reactions merits further elaboration.

Objective: To describe cases of anaphylaxis associated with omalizumab administration in patients with asthma.

Methods: We reviewed spontaneous postmarketing adverse event reports submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration's Adverse Event Reporting System database and to the manufacturers of omalizumab and cases published in the literature through December 2006.

Adequacy of the epinephrine autoinjector needle length in delivering epinephrine to the intramuscular tissues.

Background: Epinephrine injected by an autoinjector in the anterolateral aspect of the thigh is the standard of care in the emergency self-treatment of anaphylaxis. In the United States, the autoinjector EpiPen is widely used for the self-treatment of anaphylaxis.

Objective: To investigate whether EpiPen autoinjector, with a needle length of 1.