Prasad Returns, Delany Departs, Lilly’s Weight Loss Pill Disappoints and Sarepta’s Fallout Continues

Vinay Prasad is back at the FDA as chief of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. Prasad’s return—which hit the news wires Saturday morning—came just 10 days after his unexpected exit on July 29, following blowback over the saga involving Sarepta Therapeutics’ Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapy Elevidys, and a campaign by conversative personalities to oust the outspoken physician.

Elsewhere in the government, Gray Delany, former head of HHS’ and President Donald Trump’s Make America Healthy Again agenda, has been fired—days after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. axed 22 mRNA vaccine contracts under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. Delany’s ouster came after he allegedly butted heads with other agency officials over how announcements were made, according to reporting from Endpoints News. The mRNA contract cuts, meanwhile, have sparked criticism from the scientific community and concern that the growing anti-mRNA sentiment could also have a negative effect on research for cancer therapeutics.

In somewhat related news, the Annals of Internal Medicine is refusing to retract a large-scale study it ran in July that pointed to the lack of an association between childhood aluminum exposure through vaccination and chronic conditions, despite Kennedy’s criticism. In an op-ed published earlier this month, the Health Secretary took issue with the study’s design.

In obesity news, biopharma darling Eli Lilly suffered a rare chink in its normally impenetrable GLP-1 armor. The first Phase III trial for oral weight loss therapy orforglipron read out last week, and the results were underwhelming, at least to Wall Street. Truist Securities wrote that the data support approval but “leaves room for competition.” This is good news for a whole host of companies, including Roche, Viking, Terns and Rhythm Pharmaceuticals, who all have weight loss pills at various stages of development.

And in gene therapy, the hits just keep coming. The FDA has limited the use of bluebird bio’s gene therapy Skysona to patients with cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy for whom no other therapies or stem cell donors are available, due to a heightened risk of blood cancers. This follows safety issues in gene therapy trials experienced by Allogene, and, of course, Sarepta Therapeutics. This week in ClinicaSpace, Dan Samorodnitsky explored the future of AAV technology. And in BioPharm Executive, Annalee Armstrong sat down with Chris Anzalone, CEO of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals—Sarepta’s key strategic partner—to learn how his company has been weathering the storm.