March 2019

U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new generic of Diovan (valsartan). Valsartan is an angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) that treats high blood pressure and heart failure. The FDA prioritized the review of this drug application to help relieve the recent shortage of this critical medicine as a result of multiple recalls of generic valsartan products from several manufacturers due to the finding that certain lots of valsartan and other ARB medicines contain nitrosamine impurities.

An analysis of a previous study has found more evidence to support giving the steroid betamethasone to pregnant women at risk of late-preterm delivery (between 34 and 36 weeks of gestation), according to a network funded by the National Institutes of Health. Hospital stays for infants whose mothers received the drug cost less on average, compared to stays for infants whose mothers did not take the drug. The study appears in JAMA Pediatrics.

The National Institutes of Health has selected eight scientists as Lasker Clinical Research Scholars, part of a joint initiative with the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation, to foster the next generation of great clinical scientists. This highly competitive program provides talented, early stage researchers the opportunity to carry out independent clinical and translational research for five to seven years at NIH.

EMA left its London premises on March 1, and following a transitional week of teleworking, its staff will gradually move throughout this week into the Spark building in Amsterdam Sloterdijk.