The year's new drugs and biologics 2020.

2020 will go down in history as a year marked in every respect by the emergence and astonishingly rapid spread of the first major global viral pandemic in a century. It seems like nearly every event or story of the year was influenced in some way by COVID-19, and in that respect, the year ended on a high note with the authorization for emergency use of the first vaccines to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection and drugs to treat COVID-19. Despite the pandemic's dominance of the 2020 headlines, productivity was at a record high level across all therapeutic areas, as seen by the number of products in this year's review: approximately 50% more than the previous year.

The year's new drugs and biologics 2019.

Highlights of our annual review of new approvals and launches on global drug markets include the approval and launch of Trikafta, the most widely applicable treatment to date for cystic fibrosis; approval of the first Ebola vaccine for general (rather than emergency) use; the pilot rollout in three African countries of the world's first malaria vaccine; approval of a new treatment option for multidrug-resistant bacterial infections; and the approval and launch in China of the first new drug to treat Alzheimer's disease in more than a decade. Several new immune checkpoint inhibitors and antibody-drug conjugates were approved for cancer indications, confirming continued industry enthusiasm for cancer immunotherapy. The most notable trend of 2019 was the granting by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of a record number of accelerated approvals, many of which were issued several months ahead of the expected action date.

Cachexia.

Cachexia is a multiorgan, multifactorial and often irreversible wasting syndrome associated with cancer and other serious, chronic illnesses including AIDS, chronic heart failure, chronic kidney disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Treatment of the patient with cachexia is currently targeted to correcting the two underlying features of the condition: anorexia and metabolic disturbances. Greater understanding of the mechanisms behind cachexia and muscle wasting have led to new therapeutic possibilities, however.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy drugs face tough path to approval.

Highly anticipated as new disease-modifying treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), therapeutics by BioMarin Pharmaceutical (Kyndrisa™; drisapersen) and Sarepta Therapeutics (eteplirsen; AVI-4658) both recently received negative FDA reviews and are now facing battles for approval in the U.S. At present, BioMarin is committed to working with the FDA to forge a pathway to approval following the failure of its NDA, while Sarepta awaits the formal decision on its NDA, which is expected by late May 2016.

The Year's New Drugs & Biologics - 2009.

This annual article presents new drugs and biologics that were launched or approved for the first time during the previous year. In 2009, 51 new medicines and vaccines reached their first markets. Line extensions (new indications, new formulations and new combinations of previously marketed products) accounted for more than 30% of the new products launched in 2009.